C&C HOLIDAY JAMJAR ICE HOTEL HELL: PARTY

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

WHO: AHAHAHAHA. Just... just tag yourselves in.
WHERE: The Gorsewick Hotel
WHEN: December 19th. 5PM-7PM for setup, 7PM onward for dinner.
WARNINGS: Let's just cover for your basics unless something more specific comes up.
SUMMARY: Miles Edgeworth and Remus Lupin are hosting the second comm-wide holiday party and have rented out the dining hall in the Gorsewick for the night. Everyone comes in for food, warmth, and (relatively... hopefully...) civil company. Whether or not they can leave is another story.
FORMAT: IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT! Long prose, action brackets, rapidfire dialogue, present tense, past tense--whatever floats your narrative boat!



The Gorsewick is not all that large a hotel, although it would very much like to grow up to be one someday, a mere five stories tall and having only a small parking garage to its name. The owner is clearly an optimistic sort of fellow, building a place like this in the City despite the risk the existence of imPorts poses to it and the hits the tourism industry has taken from their antics; bigger places than this have been smashed to pieces by enormous grey lizards with bad cases of heartburn.

Sadly, it just isn't paying off. At a time when people should be on vacation, packing his rooms to the max, the Gorsewick is... really, really empty. The groups renting out the dining hall are pretty much the only things keeping it afloat this month.

Still, appearances must be upheld, and although it is mildly understaffed, it is currently no less well-cared for. The handful of people on duty that night are friendly and the place is clean as a whistle--no bugs, no rats, no dust, nothing like that. He may be running a sinking ship, but the owner is damned determined to keep it a tidy one on the way down.

Come on in.

Comments

Setup

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

The Gorsewick Hotel is beginning to fill with the mouth-watering smells of all manner of food and drink, either pre-ordered and delivered or presently being made in the hotel's kitchen. The dining hall is undergoing rapid but generally elegant redecoration. Massive amounts of tableware are slowly and carefully being set out. And that's not to mention, of course, the other things going on behind the scenes before the majority of guests arrive...

If you offered to show up early to lend a hand, consider yourself home!

[shiromadoushi]

Every now and then Bakura displayed a little bit of strength. Today, as he carried with him two rather stuffed canvas grocery bags full of cookies, gifts and the deserts he promised up to the kitchen without aid it becomes a little clearer that yes indeed, he had gotten a bit stronger in the City!

Not that it didn't mean that his arms were killing him. Because they were. Especially his left. Next time, he would bring a cart. ... on to the bus. But people seemed to manage it fine...

"Excuse me!" he called as he entered. "I brought desert!"

/lives, finally

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

Edgeworth seemed to be busy staring down a turkey as harshly as if it were a criminal on the witness stand when Bakura entered the main hall. In fact, it probably wouldn't have been too surprising to see him Object! to it, but he spared himself and everyone else in the room from such an embarrassment, finally deciding that it was just fine and needed no further inspection.

He turned, watching Bakura come in with an armload, and nodded approvingly. Punctuality did a lot to impress him, and so did people's willingness to work.

"On the rounded tables, if you please."

*gives much tea*

[shiromadoushi]

Bakura nodded, very carefully setting his bags down in font of the tables before starting to unpack. Cream puffs from the bakery (since his weren't as good yet), the homemade Christmas cake (as big as he could make it with plenty of strawberries and cream!) three large pastry boxes of homemade Christmas cookies...

He rotated his left shoulder slowly and carefully, bracing it with a hand as he gave a deep sigh of relief. Oooh, that had been heavy! "I hope I brought enough..." he laughed almost sheepishly.

[notadartboard]

Sanji had been to the fish market in the early wee hours of the morning, and scored himself two huge yellowfin tunas on the club's purchasing order, even though they wouldn't be for All That Jazz. He also made use of the club's kitchen to prepare and store the tuna steaks for later, so there was less to carry and less to do in the hotel's kitchen.

He showed up before five, everything he could need for seasoning and cooking the requested dish under two large covered chafing dishes. The rest of the work would be done with the hotel's kitchen tools - he didn't have enough arm space to carry his own knives and other prep tools. Not when there were gifts for the ladies in tow.

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, what was in the hotel's kitchen would suffice; while he'd given the place a narrow-eyed once-over to make sure that it was appropriately clean--and it was--he hadn't had time to check it out any more thoroughly than that.

He'd be a liar if he didn't admit that Sanji's arrival made his stomach rumble a bit. No doubt the fish would be one of the finer selections on the menu that night. After the work done the year before, he had high expectations in every area save for the hope that the other man had quit that vile smoking habit.

...Well, he couldn't say he expected the guy to not hit on everything with more than two curves to it, either, but one learned to put up with such quirks.

"Good evening," he said, holding out a hand in an offer to help carry things.

[notadartboard]

"Oh, Edgeworth." Sanji grinned at the welcome and offered one of the large chafing dishes. "Thanks. It's finally the big night, eh?"

He zeroed in on the kitchen and headed straight for it, chatting over his shoulder as he went. A year ago he had been new to the City and this holiday, but now he acted as though this were old hat. "As much as I wouldn't have minded the business, I have to say, I'm all right with someone else catering this bash. It's been a stressful week and I relished being able to spend yesterday baking cookies instead of preparing a five-course meal for hundreds."

ohai~

[taughttolisten.livejournal.com]

As promised, Obi-Wan arrived punctually and loaded down with food--as well as with two bottles of champagne. (A small card was tied to each, one bearing the initial "R" and the other an "M".)

"It's Ben," he called into the kitchen. "I hope I didn't bring too much."

Yo!

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

Having just finished an examination of the kitchen that could barely be described as anything more than cursory in nature, Edgeworth nearly smacked into Obi-Wan as the other man entered. Backing up a few (hasty) steps, he immediately began relieving Kenobi of some of his burden, laying things out on the long spare counter-top in the middle of the room, the better to take stock of them.

"Not at all," he grumbled. "We barely managed with as much as there was last year, and I suspect there will be a larger crowd this time."

Peering at the bottle with the M on its card, his mood lightening by an improper fraction--which is to say that it is very possible that the brighter spirit in question actually involved multiple fractions, which, when combined, came to an unexpectedly large total that was better expressed by an overly-heavy numerator--he turned and nodded his appreciation, folding his arms over his chest.

"Naturally, we've increased the order, but this should all prove helpful."

[thelionharted.livejournal.com]

It wouldn't be a proper party if the Marauders didn't help set it up. Therefore, James and Sirius had showed up a bit early in order to help with the decoration. (They'd decided against evil mistletoe. Some things were best left at Hogwarts, and that was one of them.) James was pulling garlands out of boxes near a convenient wall, then charming them to hang up there and look pretty. Sirius could take care of some other things.

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

While he might have been glowering in suspicion at the garland strands looping around the dining hall--and making a mental note to perhaps suggest to Snape that he sit away from the walls rather than directly in front of them, just in case--Edgeworth couldn't say that they weren't tasteful.

Granted, it only served to increase his suspicion even more, but in the end, he couldn't see anything wrong with them and so chose to offer James a quiet thank you as he passed by.

[thelionharted.livejournal.com]

James is good with tasteful! Surprisingly. It's Sirius you have to watch out for. He grinned and nodded at Miles as he passed, turning his attention to a few more garlands.

[dragony]

Despite the varied and numerous circumstances that would dictate otherwise, Ruka knew very little about this particular member of the so-called Marauders; most of the time she did her best to keep out of the way of the boys whenever they were around the house. It seemed safer that way for her, in a roundabout fashion.

But he was one of Remus's friends, and Sirius's too, so she'd have to work up the nerve to talk to him sometime. Now seemed as good a time as any.

And so, in one of the comparatively slower moments, Ruka tentatively approached the older boy, gloved hands hanging a little nervously before her.

"They look lovely."

[thelionharted.livejournal.com]

"Oh, er, thanks," James replied, turning to glance at the younger girl. "I used to do this a lot for parties back at Hogwarts," he added, nodding towards the garlands. "Er, with crepe paper, though, not garlands, 'cause Pete was no good with the wand movements, Remus had other things to do, and Sirius' always ended up tangled. So I got stuck with being the stuff-hanger." He shrugged and grinned again.

"Did you see the crackers me'n Sirius made? They're going to be brilliant."

[natureinblood]

Remus would have thanked them for not introducing the City to whatever plans they'd had for the mistletoe if he'd known about it. Instead, he just takes a moment to study the garlands as James charms them to the wall.

"Good job, James."

[thelionharted.livejournal.com]

Oh, just mistletoe that yells at you and threatens to bite you until you kiss someone, is all. James grins and nods in acknowledgement, rolling his shoulders a bit.

"Thanks, Moony. Anything else you want me to do?"

[donttasemebro]

Likewise as promised, Bruno was there as early as anyone helping with any and all table-moving and chair-carrying that had to be done. Followed by... basically any carrying at all that had to be done. He looked more genuinely happy than he had in practically a month, glad for the chance to put himself (and especially, his powers) to constructive use for someone for once.

The hotel staff who crossed his path, however, tended to look somewhere between bewildered and insulted when he would walk up, blurt out a chipper "I'll take that!" and effortlessly lift and walk off with the heavy box of silverware or whatnot that they'd been staggering along carrying.

[bluffing-ruffle.livejournal.com]

Edgeworth was also doing a fair bit of the heavy lifting when necessary, but he hadn't quite noticed just how much more Bruno was managing. At least not right away.

The only thing that saved the upended box of china plates that he dropped when he saw the blue-haired young man cart away an impossible stack of chairs was a well-timed spell from Lupin, who had caught sight of them tumbling and managed to keep them levitating in mid-air. It took Edgeworth a few moments to gather his jaw up off the floor and settle it back in place before he could scoop the dishes back into a stack and set them on a nearby table for someone else to put out, stalking after Bruno and calling his name for attention.

How in blazes--?

[dragony]

While not exactly part of the setup committee proper, Ruka was still one of the earliest arrivals (as was to be expected, daughter of the hosts and whatnot). She kept out of the way of the caterers and cooks and this-or-that bit of decorating, instead drifting from room to room to watch the proceedings.

If nothing else, it meant she could usually be counted on to redirect the inevitable questions of "hey, have you seen so-and-so?" from the staff, but being an extra set of eyes or hands wasn't out of the question.

[natureinblood]

Spotting the familiar green hair, Remus excuses himself from assisting Sirius and James to approach her.

"Would you like to help with the decorations?"

[purmoncul.livejournal.com]

Someone comes running by in a wine-red suit, and pulls up short when he sees RUka. The person is too short to be Edgeworth, though, and is smiling with far too much mischief.

It's Sirius, and he's dressed exactly like Miles. Right down to silvering his hair, and even has one of the man's jabots on.

"Hey Ruka! What do you think, is it on straight?"

It is uncanny, the resemblance.

[natureinblood]

Remus is mostly supervising, checking to make sure that no one was attempting to bring in anything suspicious or dangerous. Whether or not James and Sirius were checked remained to be seen and Remus wasn't going to answer if anyone asked. Just making someone expect a prank could be just as much of one, he'd found, and really, it was far too large of a party to not expect something to happen.

Hopefully, no one would need to be transfigured. So, if anyone is looking for him, or just wants to speak to one of the few men in the room who does look uncomfortable wearing a suit, he can be found pretty much anywhere, helping out in whatever way he can.

[purmoncul.livejournal.com]

Up comes a person dressed in a familiar shade of wine-red, with a familiar froth of white at his throat and a familiar waistcoat, familiar silver hair, and a familiar, infectious smile.

...Only the familiar smile did not at all go with the familiar clothing.

"Hallo, luv," says Sirius pitching his voice deeper and attempting something like a disapproving scowl, "give us a kiss."

[thingone]

You know those people who mean to help, but really just end up making things worse? That is Fred Weasley right now, only he's not even a bit sorry about it. He's also making all the silverware dance around wildly on the tables while levitating decorations into place.

[notadartboard]

Sanji caught this as he came out from the kitchen for a moment. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"