Holiday Ball at the Skylark

[birthright_npc]

The grand ballroom of the Skylark Hotel was awash in shades of forest green and gold. The charity ball had been arranged to benefit a local children's hospital, and so a large percentage of the proceeds from the door tickets and bar would be donated to renovate the facility. A two-story Christmas tree towered over the buffet tables of festive finger foods and chocolate fountain, and people had placed unwrapped toys under the limbs to be delivered to the hospital the next day. Champagne flowed freely. There were two stages for the live jazz musicians that would play all night. Santa's scantily clad elves wandered about the room with trays of shrimp and caviar. A dance floor took up the center of the space underneath a gleaming chandelier and there were beautifully decorated round tables on the edges of the room.

The ticket price was manageable, and a few tickets had gone out free for radio promotions and the like.

Luckily for the undead, the decor did not include wall-to-wall mirrors, though there were a few on the high ceiling.

In various corners, Vegas performance artists entertained to ooohs and aaahs. For instance, there was a man eating a gleaming sword in the corner.

Thread: Open to Anyone

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[cian_oneill]

His smile widened into a grin as she talked of later, then he threw a glance over his shoulder at the tree. "No, couldn' manage it on the bike," he told her with a laugh. He looked at her as they kept dancing.

"As a kid I grew up lookin' forward t' gettin' up Christmas morning and findin' either a new ball, or a new car t' add t' m' collection," he told her, tilting his head lightly toward the tree, "Matchbox cars, 'n trucks. Put a few of them under there." He raised his arm and spun her around beneath it before drawing her back to him. "What was your favourite Christmas present? Back before stakes 'n knives started t' play a feature role?"

[rhiannon_lee]

The image of Cian trying to carry a rocking horse on his motorcycle cracked her up. She sobered and let her mind ravel around childhood memories, long before her dad started stuffing her stocking with Marlboros and school supplies because scratching his head hadn’t scrounged up anything else. Rhiannon’s grandmother had given her a gorgeous rosary once, but she wanted to think of a toy.

“Lite-Brite,” she said. “I used to love plugging those little pegs in the holes. I think the beagle ate half of them. Then there was that magical moment when you turned on the bulb.”

[cian_oneill]

Cian thought for a moment, trying to remember the name, and smiled. Oonagh's little sister had one, and her mother had always been finding the pieces scattered all over the house. He remembered one day, on hands and knees, helping retrieve them from underneath the lounge and other furniture after she had turned it on, and been so excited with the butterfly she'd made that she'd spun around with it, the small pegs flying around the room.

"Aye, I remember that. That were a pretty special moment," he nodded, telling her about Oonagh's little sister, and thinking the same could be said of that moment, right there, right then as he looked at her.

[rhiannon_lee]

“I bet.” Rhiannon kissed him on the mouth, lipstick be damned. Then she used her thumb to remove any traces from his face as the song came to an end. Other couples wandered to the fringes of the ballroom in search of fresh drinks and food. “Say it again for me, please. How’s it go?” She glanced at the ceiling as tried to find the right syllables. “Is brea’...?”

[cian_oneill]

Cian grinned, knowing from the look in her face exactly what she meant as he lowered his lips to her ear. He remembered telling her the morning after he'd said it to her, her dancing around it, teasingly trying to coax it out of him unnecessary, but he'd played along and drawn it out, amused that the fact he'd said it in his native language something that had intrigued her, yet had been something that she hadn't just come straight out and asked him, the way she was upfront with almost everything else.

"Is breá liom tú ró-Rhiannon."

[rhiannon_lee]

“I know you do.” Rhiannon grinned and laced her fingers into Cian’s. She pulled him away from the dance floor as the crowd applauded the musicians. “C’mon. I could use another drink.”

They disappeared into the mix.