[OPEN] We'll Take A Cup of Kindness Yet

[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:

[The morning of December 31st, all residents will receive a handwritten invitation slipped under their door.]



You are cordially invited to attend a party
celebrating the New Year

Wonderland Ballroom
8 pm - 1 am

Semi-Formal Attire
Buffet & Bar
No RSVP Required

All Ages Welcome

For inquiries, contact E. O'Connell

[Punctuality in planning is important: the ballroom itself will only be ready for guests at exactly 8 o'clock, bedecked in glittering golds and the red-green of Christmas' vestiges, still clinging to the old year. Dining tables surround a central dance floor, bars and buffets dot the edges of the room and both holly and mistletoe are expressed liberally through the interior.

Mingle, dance, eat and be merry! The New Year will come in at midnight - the band will play and the drinks will flow for long after.]

Comments

[thisismadfreaky]

His eyes sweep over her as she makes her way over to meet him halfway. It's almost startling, just how stunning she is. Not that she couldn't be or wasn't naturally beautiful, but he's usually busy seeing her as Harry's Daughter to notice her the way he is definitely noticing her right now. The smile that still plays on his lips isn't telling. "It's been pretty great so far," He certainly didn't have any complaints. "I was just gonna grab a drink."

[quickgenius]

Her eyes are bright as she looks at him, grin fading into a fond, happy smile. She’s glad he’s here. Glad they crossed paths. She’s doing her best to not notice how good Cisco looks all dressed up and failing horribly right now, but at least he doesn’t know she’s noticed. “Good. That’s good.” After everything that’s happened, all the things Wonderland has done, she’s really glad he’s not been having a bad time at the New Year’s Eve party. She holds out her hand. “Come on, I’ll go with you. I could use a drink myself.”

[thisismadfreaky]

"Perfect. I'd love the company." He nods and takes her hand in his, falling in step with her at his side to go find themselves a couple of drinks. Once those are in hand, he can turn his attention on Jesse again as he takes a sip of his beer as he considers appropriate conversation for the moment. "Have any goals for the new year in this new universe?"

[quickgenius]

She beams at him at that, his hand warm in hers. This is a good New Year’s Eve party. And definitely better than the last New Year’s she’d had. With better company. She takes a sip of her drink, laughing softly at Cisco’s question. “Surviving what Wonderland throws at us, for one, I think,” she tells him, before contemplating the question thoughtfully for a moment. “I don’t know. Meet people. Make friends. Keep learning what I can about things here. Spend time with the people I care about. Especially that.”

Tilting her head, she looks at him curiously. “What about you?”

[thisismadfreaky]

"Seems like a good one," he chuckles softly, "We probably all have that one on our lists." But it was less a resolution or a goal than tied to their survival here in this place that seemed to love to do anything and everything in its power--which was vast, varied, and kind of terrifying if he thought about it--to upend their lives at every turn. He smiles at her other ideas, "I really like that last one." Because with Iris' disappearance there for awhile, he'd come to realize how fleeting their time here could be, how out of their hands, out of their control it all was.

He considers her reversal of the question and shrugs a little. "I wanna figure this place out. And...my place in it...I guess?" But wasn't that always a part of what he was doing? He'd found it, back home, on Team Flash. But things were a little different here, it wasn't quite the same even if he had a lot of his friends from home here. He didn't...have a purpose in Wonderland like he did back there. He'd fought so long and hard to have one, he isn't sure how to find it again.

[quickgenius]

“For good reason, too.” There’s no way to predict the events, yet. No way to know what’s coming before Wonderland’s inhabitants warn them. In their own vague way. There’s been one, just before each event. She’s pretty sure, anyway; she needs to go back over her notes in more detail, to double check. “Me too. It’s important.” She gives him a crooked little smile. “You guys are important.” To her. And her dad.

She nods, squeezing his hand gently. “I get that.” A lot, actually. She hasn’t had a place in a while. Somewhere to belong. There’s home, of course, but it feels like she hasn’t been there in forever. Not since Zoom. The kidnapping, and torture, and terrified flight to the other Earth. Cisco’s Earth. She’s not sure she’ll get to go back home, either. Which doesn’t even matter because outside of Wonderland, for her anyway, her dad is still in danger. Still kidnapped. Which is why, despite the fact that she hates that she’s been kidnapped again, she’s okay with being here in Wonderland. Because he’s here. And Barry, and Iris, and Caitlin. And Cisco. For now, he’s safe. As safe as he can be in a fictional place set off from the rest of the multi-verse that likes to overwrite who people are, anyway. “If I can help...” She bites her lip. “I’d like to.”

[thisismadfreaky]

Wonderland is so unpredictable, sometimes it's a little unsettling to think about. He isn't sure they'll find a way to track everything like they want to. But he's still holding out hope, he hasn't given up yet. He's only just beginning, really. He smiles brightly at that comment, "You're pretty important too, ya no," he nudges her shoulder gently with his own. They'd traveled to another universe to save her, after all.

"Yeah," he nods a little, a trace of that smile still on his face. "I'll absolutely let you know if you can help on that front."

[quickgenius]

They have to try. Even if they can’t find a way to track everything, even if they might not be able to figure out what they want to, what they need to, they still have to try. If nothing else it will give them something to do. Problems to solve. She looks at him, shy and startled and pleased, all at once. It’s not that she thought that she wasn’t; they’d gone to another Earth to rescue her, after all. Without even knowing her. But hearing that she, herself, is important, not just what she means to her dad (and that rescuing her meant that Zoom didn’t have leverage on him anymore)... it means more than he knows.

Means more than she expected it to.

“Good.” She smiles softly, giving him a nod. “Good.” She meant it when she said that they’re important. He’s important.

[thisismadfreaky]

He recognizes the unexpected happy surprise he caused in her--he's felt it himself on a number of occasions, because he tends to lean toward expecting the worst--and it makes his smile a little brighter to see her pleasantly flustered about it. It's cute.

He's about to speak when he hears the rumblings of the countdown to midnight starting in the crowded room around them. He glances around, a little grin on his face and starts counting down as well. "Twelve, eleven, ten..." he's still grinning as he focuses on Jesse again.

[quickgenius]

His smile turns a little brighter, and oh she kind of really likes his smile; a lot. She bites her lip and takes another sip of her drink to try and hide the brief increase in just how flustered she is.

The rumblings of counting down to midnight catches her a little by surprise; she’d completely lost track of the time in her conversation with Cisco, and she looks at him, eyes bright, as she joins in the counting down, too. This is definitely an improvement over her last new year’s eve. “Nine, eight, seven, six...”

[thisismadfreaky]

She's just... adorable, and Cisco isn't sure she's even aware of it. Which just makes it even better. He notices she's a little flustered but...he doesn't have the pieces to figure out why. He's not too fussed about it, though, as they continue counting the last seconds of the year. "Five...four..."

There's barely any time left and a thought dawns on him. That silly tradition of kissing at midnight. Did they even have that tradition on Earth-2? Would she be weirded out if he tried? "Three...two..." He'll just explain it later if she's confused. As the last second ticks by, he leans in and presses his lips to hers in a soft, almost chaste kiss.

[quickgenius]

“One-” Yes, the New Year’s Eve kiss is a tradition on her Earth... but Jesse never expected this. For Cisco to keep that tradition with her. Never expected him to kiss her. Never expected him to WANT to kiss her. And it’s not something she knew she wanted, realised she wanted until this moment. Until he’s kissing her. For a moment the surprise of that, the shock, stuns her into stillness as his lips press softly against hers. OH. And then she’s touching him, her hand lifting, fingers splayed gently along his jaw as she kisses him back, pressing forward into the kiss. Into him.

[thisismadfreaky]

The way she kind of freezes for a second makes him wonder if this was a bad idea, but that is over as soon as it started and she's kissing him back and maybe it wasn't the worst idea afterall.

The kiss is short and sweet, not meant to be anything deep or lingering, even if Cisco already has the idea that maybe he wouldn't mind repeating that sometime in the future if opportunity presented.

"Happy New Year," he says softly, grin spreading across his lips as he pulls away.

[quickgenius]

This is definitely an improvement over her last New Year’s, and she’s kind of pretty sure it’s an improvement over a LOT of other New Year’s, too. The kiss isn’t deep, or lingering, but it is sweet and makes butterflies start fluttering wildly in her stomach and she’s thinking that she wouldn’t mind doing that again. She would like to do that again.

“Happy New Year,” she replies, her grin lighting up her face.

[thisismadfreaky]

Cisco was really glad he'd decided to come to the party in the end, instead of vetoing the idea like he'd originally intended. It ended up being a pretty great night with food, dancing, and chatting, spent mostly with Jesse at his side. He can only hope the good of this night is a reflection of what's to come over the course of the next year.