[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

[wildwest]

Look, they didn't have electric string lights when he was a kid! Candles were the way to go. Everyone who put 'lights' in their tree did it that way. How was he supposed to know, especially when you had zero interest in decorating for the holidays? He knows better for next year — and he tries not to put too much hope into her being right where she was this past Christmas at ones yet to come. He would certainly like her to be, but with the fluctuating state of people's stays and their track record for fucking up good things...

That's not something to contemplate right now. He'd fight for her, but—

"Good. Might save yourself some time if you make yourself aware goin' in. And you never know; I just might find myself impressed with the effort."

[middlefinger]

To be fair, it's not like she's had a lot of happy holiday memories in the past -- who knew that having an actual Holliday in her life would help change that. It was easily the happiest Christmas she's had ever, and if they're both still around and together next year she'd be much more likely to help decorate things --

But that's a big if. One she would rather not dwell on right now.

"It would be fun to surprise you, I can't deny that."

[wildwest]

He falls silent as the countdown begins, people chanting from ten to one around them. Seeing as she has dodged all his attempts to kiss her in public, he's curious to see if she'll follow through with this one. Even trying to kiss her under the mistletoe at the winter ball had resulted in his lips meeting her forehead instead of her lips when she bowed her head at the last second. But she pointedly asked about his knowledge of the tradition, so perhaps this time...

—three, two, one—

[middlefinger]

It's true, she has dodged all of his attempts to kiss her in public -- other than when he caught her off guard during that photo they took at Ray and Sarah's wedding. She realizes it's fairly silly of her to be as shy about it as she has been considering she's made out with strangers in bars many times -- but he wasn't a stranger and this wasn't a meaningless makeout session and maybe that made all the difference.

And yet, as the people around them chant and count down the seconds until the new year she decides to go through with it -- it's not like they were a secret and who knew if they would get the chance to do this again, a lot could change before the next new year. She gets up from where she's seated to move closer to him and when they get down to one she presses her lips gently against his, wrapping her arms loosely around his neck as she did so.

[wildwest]

Perhaps it is kind of ridiculous, but he gets it — kind of. Enough to try and understand where she's coming from, at the very least, and give her the time and leeway that she needs. He doesn't much like it, truth be told, but it is what it is, and there's no forcing Wynonna to work herself out of whatever tangle she's been twisted into.

Whatever the reason (the occasion, the symbolism, the crowd of potential on-lookers distracted by midnight kisses of their own), he's not complaining when she takes it upon herself to kiss him. He keeps it gentle and chaste, hands resting against the small of her back.

[middlefinger]

It's not lost on Wynonna that almost anyone else would have gotten fed up with her by now. And it may not always seem like it but she is trying to find ways to untangle herself, to let go of some of that baggage. This isn't Purgatory. No one here is going to mock her or act like she doesn't deserve this. Nobody will talk about them or try to cheapen what they have by being like oh look there's slutty Wynonna making out with someone in public again. And she doesn't really care when people say things when that is all she's doing -- but what she and Doc have here in Wonderland has always been something more. It's never that she's been ashamed to be seen with him, far from it, but more it was the fear of how this good thing between them could be misconstrued if the public got their hands on it.

But the people in Wonderland are not the people in her hometown. She doesn't have the same baggage or reputation dragging her down (though she often feels the weight of it all the same). Still, it's nice to note that as they kiss, keeping it soft and chaste, that nobody notices. Nobody cares and it's a revelation. She can't help but grin broadly as she breaks the kiss, resting her forehead against his as she keeps close, her hands coming down to rest on his shoulders. Maybe doing that in public sometimes wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Happy New Year, John Henry."

[wildwest]

It’s progress; it’s something. It’s a step in the right direction, a push towards a sense of normalcy he knows she’s never had the luxury of possessing, not even when she was on the proverbial run in Europe. Because Purgatory and the baggage that comes with not only being an Earp, but being her, always just around the corner, waiting to haunt her.

But unlike him, nothing of her history can be plucked off a library shelf for anyone to read. They can brush up on Wyatt’s life, and perhaps that of his immediate descendants, but not her. The only way people will learn about her sordid past is if she chooses to share it with them.

“Happy New Year, Wynonna. May the best be yet to come.”

[middlefinger]

It's true, the only people who knows about her past, about the things she's done, are the people she's shared it with (and those people aren't many). For once in her life she has a measure of control over how people see her and judge her and that agency has been incredibly empowering. Without it she might not ever have been bold enough to truly explore this thing between them, especially as openly as they have.

"I think it will, this is the first time in a long time I find myself excited about a new year and what might lie ahead."

[wildwest]

“I share those sentiments, and not just because this is the first new year I haven’t spent sittin’ at the bottom of a well.”

That was certainly part of it, though. Before now, the years just blended together. One year blurred into the next, and he had no real semblance of just how much time had actually passed until he pulled himself free of that well’s depths using that rope she carelessly left dangling. He really does owe his freedom to her laziness — and his life to her own brand of ruthlessness. Had she not stepped in when he was taking on Constance, he might very well have gone through with killing the damned witch and offing himself in the process.

[middlefinger]

"I'm sure that doesn't hurt. Just like it doesn't hurt that this the first year I've really gotten to spend celebrating with people I care about -- and for once there are things to look forward to."

Which there usually wasn't back home. Her life before returning to Purgatory had been mostly made of her drifting through life, the years blurring together in the process, and even after she returned home...well there was too much to do with the curse to have much to look forward to. There was always another crisis for her to handle, little room to find happiness.

[wildwest]

"I can't complain about bein' free of that. Never did thank you for savin' me from that personal hell of mine, did I?"

And if he did, he must have been pretty damn drunk at the time, for he can't recall actually articulating that thought. (Which is honestly a possibility.) She has to know that she was the one who inadvertently freed him.

[middlefinger]

"No, you didn't, but it's not like I did it on purpose -- you make me sound like your savior when all I did was carelessly leave a rope."

Not that she regrets doing so, not for a moment. Having Doc in her life has been meaningful in a multitude of ways even back home but especially here in Wonderland. She would rescue him again in a heartbeat if she had to.

"Did you realize I was the one who rescued you when we met in Shorty's that night?"

[wildwest]

"A rope that spared me another hundred and thirty years down in those dark depths. We both know the witch would have been more than content to leave me down there for double that and then some."

For more reasons than he's aware of, but it's for the best that they don't know about the seal. Doc isn't stupid; he knows that there's more to this ring she enchanted for him than meets the eye, but he's not holding all the cards in that hand. And even if he were, it wouldn't matter much in a place like this. They can't exactly break Bulshar's seal while trapped in Wonderland.

He nods. "I did, but I did not realize that it was an Earp of all people who came to my careless rescue. You provided me with that detail and Bobo and his posse filled me in on the rest."

Nobody says 'posse' anymore, Doc.

[middlefinger]

"Yeah well, now she's the one who can suffer for a few centuries, she how it feels."

Except Constance Clootie will end up dead in the not too distant future back home, but that's something neither one of them are aware of. As far as they know she'll be stuck in that salt for a long, long time. Good riddance. Wynonna hopes she suffers the way she made Doc suffer and maybe that's petty and cruel but she never claimed to be above those things.

"No, you just thought I was a prostitute," She counters, though the playful grin on her lips says that she doesn't hold it against him that he did. Even at the time it had been more amusing than anything else.

[wildwest]

"Hey now, I apologized and then some for that. You were one of the first things I saw when I got out of that well, and I had no other frame of reference to liken your risqué attire to at the time."

It had been hard to wrap his head around how much the world had changed, nevermind how long he'd been down in that well for, when he first crawled out of it. That's partially why he gravitated so freely towards Bobo and his unsavory band of revenants and shady human familiars at first — one of the reasons, anyway. It was easier to be around a bunch of angry demons who wore faces he remembered than the advanced world around him.

"You know, I don't think you ever thanked me for savin' your hide that first time." His fingers drumming lazily against her hips. "You had no clue I had followed you. Not that you're a hard woman to tail or track down. We ought to work on that."

[middlefinger]

"I wasn't holding it against you -- I mean I thought you were just some crazy Wyatt Earp fanboy who was dressed up in a costume -- we were both off the mark a little."

And even as she got to know him more, she still didn't figure out who he really was, had he not exposed himself to her when he did it may have taken her a lot longer to come to the confusion herself. It's a little frustrating when she realizes just how many people have figured it out without needing to be told like she was but it can't be helped.

Her eyes widen a little in surprise at that. "That was you?" He was correct, she had no idea he had tracked her down like that. "I always assumed it was Dolls who shot Carl that day, but it was you. Thank you. You saved both me and Waverly."

And to show her gratitude she leans in to press another small kiss against his lips. See? Slowly she's getting better at this.

[wildwest]

"Dolls?" He scoffs. "As if he could'a made that shot."

Truth be told, the deputy marshal was a fine shot, but he wasn't as good as Doc. He wouldn't have been able to peg Carl the way Doc had, especially from that far away. And even if Doc's loyalties had been ambiguous and questionable at best back then, he still took it upon himself to pay back the girl who freed him for her carless rescue.

He doesn't regret it. Not one bit.

"An eye for an eye," Doc whispers against her lips. "Not the most honorable of reasons, but I was still workin' on gettin' my head on straight."

[middlefinger]

"True, but you were just some weird dude who stole my gun in the bar -- I had no reason to think you helped me then. Little did I know that was only the first of many times you'd take Peacemaker from me."

Really Wynonna, you're practically baiting him to slip his hand underneath your dress and take it from you again.

"I didn't realize yet that the reason why you were acting so strangely was because you were from a different time entirely."

[wildwest]

The look he gives her seems to suggest that he would do just that were they not surrounded by people. He's all for plucking it out of your boot or holster or even your hand, but from under your skirt? He is a proper gentleman (when he wants to be), thank you very much.

"What reason did you have to even consider it? Sure, you knew about the revenants, but someone who knew your great-great-grandpappy was never part of that accursed scenario."

[middlefinger]

She appreciates you not sticking your hand up her skirt in public -- not that she cares nearly as much about being a lady but if he was going to do that she'd prefer it was for fun reasons.

"Well, the revenants knew him, but you clearly weren't a revenant because Peacemaker didn't react to you -- so it was much easier to just think you were someone who was just a little into their history." She pauses for a moment, a playful smirk on her lips as she adds:

"Not that that deterred me from propositioning you anyway."

[wildwest]

"You, my dear, I have learned, have boundaries that are few and far between. And that right there is a fence you have scaled many a times."

The propositioning. He was even present in Shorty's a few times when she did much the same to other guys, and even had to pull a knife on one who wouldn't take no for an answer when the guy tried to take it farther than Wynonna intended. He's not sorry to say he's glad that phase of her life is over now.

[middlefinger]

"It's true, but I haven't had to scale it in a while, and I'm weirdly okay with that."

More than okay, honestly. Wynonna never would have thought she would be content to stay with a guy as long as she has with him, that she would have gotten bored sexually if nothing else, but Doc isn't like the other men she's been with when it comes to that stuff. if things ever ended with them it would be very difficult for her to go back to casual sex with men who don't know what she likes or care if she gets off or not. He's spoiled her and then some in that regard.

[wildwest]

"I'd certainly hope so."

For if she felt the need to climb it, it meant that he was doing something wrong. Nearly six months into this relationship meant she was either fully committed to staying within the lines or getting bored enough to start hopping fences again. He's honestly surprised that she hasn't already, had expected her to do just that a few times before. Doc complains about the events, but the truth is, the events have saved their relationship a few times. They haven't discussed it much, but he's quite certain that if she hadn't nearly died in Tartarus, she would have found a way to leave him — directly or done something inexcusable to make him call the whole thing off — in the wake of his confession.

[middlefinger]

"If I wasn't, you'd know by now. You don't have to keep waiting for me to get bored -- if I was going to be, I would be already. You do realize you give me plenty of reason not to get bored, right?"

Or maybe he doesn't. It isn't something they've talked about much, though he's made enough comments over time that she knows he expected her to grow tired of him. And sure, at first she had thought that might happen too but it's also a little irritating how little credit he gives himself. Sure, if she really wanted to she could easily find someone else to get her rocks off with but she'd be hard pressed to find anyone who fulfills her like he does . And maybe at one point that wouldn't have mattered -- if she hadn't nearly died in Tartarus she probably would have lashed out anyway and ruined everything they had but that near death experience, him choosing to save her and putting himself in risk at the process, it had helped open her eyes to what she really had. And when Wynonna cares about something she digs her claws in deep and refuses to let go.

[wildwest]

Time and experience, both good and bad, warps the credit one gives to themselves. Sometimes it's too much, others not enough.

"Didn't say I wasn't expectin' you to be." Oh, but he certainly implied it often enough. "But it's heartening to hear that you don't think you will. After all, who else is going to spoil you as rotten as you've become?"