Islington Nest Christmas Party, Dec 17 [Open to all Nest members and their guests]

[vampire_barbie_girl]

Caroline has worked hard to put together the evening's event, which is not only a Christmas party but also hopefully a chance for the Nest to celebrate its new leadership. The room at the Angelo has been decorated with a winter wonderland theme which, while not exactly original, is quite lovely.

A string quartet is playing a selection of Christmas and other classical music. Any attempts to feed on the musicians will result in the perpetrator getting thrown out the party, or worse. But feeding on any of the hired help or performers should be unnecessary, since several varieties of "blood punch" are available to drink. There is also food and other drinks available for non-vampire guests and anyone else who wishes to partake.

There is a strict black tie only dress code and Caroline will tell anyone who is under-dressed to go home and change.



[The event is happening on Dec 17th but I wanted to get it up early so everyone had time to do get involved if they so desired.]

Comments

[longterm]

Nancy is back in Cesare's house. It's pleasant, really. He's noticed that she hasn't been around much, though he doesn't quite realise precisely why. In truth, he thinks she's just moved on. So when he walks up to her, he's amiable. After all, why wouldn't he be?

He smirks as he looks down at his drink of "blood punch". It's juvenile, but endearing.

"You're back. It's nice to see you." He looks down at her shoes. "Is this business or pleasure?"

[stauncherhearted]

The second he approaches, she prepares herself to be kicked out. She'd go, this time, without complaint. She didn't need to make a scene at Caroline's shindig. That would just be rude, and she tried not to be rude. Fagin raised her better than that.

But he doesn't. He smiles at her, and she blushes a little. It's odd, seeing him again, after their rather uneventful lunch.

"Pleasure. I'm friends with Caroline." A pause. "I hope you don't mind that I'm here."

[longterm]

"Why would I?" Cesare asks casually, clearly not remembering or at least dismissing their conversation where he had barred her from here. After all, they're over that now, right? They're friends.

"You're Islington now. This is an Islington party. It's only right that you attend. I would have been disappointed if you hadn't."

[stauncherhearted]

She purses her lips slightly. But, luckily, she knows better than to press the issue. She was here. She could work here again. If she wanted to, though frankly, having her "office" was really quite wonderful.

"And I'd hate to disappoint Cesare Borgia." They both know she's done it before. "Thank you. All the best parties happen here, after all."

[longterm]

"A party is only as good as its guests," he replies with a smile.

"Do you have enough to drink?" he asks, playing the good host. "There's some Williams Chase in the back that I'm sure you could have." Cesare knows her tastes by now. They've spent enough evenings together for him to know what she likes to drink.

[stauncherhearted]

Oh, he remembered. Her look softens even more.

"Thank you- I'll be sure to ask the bartender." She'd grown to like the expensive gin, something she could never afford otherwise. She certainly missed that.

[longterm]

Cesare nods and smiles.

"How have you been keeping yourself?" he asks, subconsciously placing his hand on the small of her back, not thinking about it even vaguely enough to consider it might be inappropriate. He's tactile. He touches people. She's been doing well, he presumes. After all, she hasn't come to work in the hotel. Business with the businessmen in Canary Wharf must be booming.

[stauncherhearted]

"Quite well, actually. Just turned twenty, as it were." She doesn't easily mention how old she was, but in front of Cesare it seemed something to be proud of.

Her stomach drops when she feels his hand against her back, and she straightens up a little.

She isn't going to discuss work with him, however.

[longterm]

Unfortunately for Nancy, that's just how Cesare acts with people. He's absentmindedly tactile, slapping his hand on people's shoulders and invading their personal space just a little more. It's a habit that's lasted centuries, and if Nancy wants him to treat her like he does any other person, then he'll do just that. In fact, that's exactly what he's doing.

He gives her an encouraging pat as he smiles.

"Too old for me then," he joshes. "Did you celebrate?"

[stauncherhearted]

"Cradle robber," she fires back at him, though she's smiling back at him. She's, what, not even a tenth of his age? But this is why she tries not to think about vampire ages. After all, how old is Cooper, now?

"I didn't want to," she explains. "But that's the problem with friends- they tend to find out and make you celebrate anyway."

[longterm]

Cesare is acutely aware that when Nancy says friends, he himself is not included in that group. He's not too perturbed though. It's expected. Their relationship hasn't always been the least strained.

"Tell me next time. I'll make you endure a real celebration. What did you do?" Takeout and a movie, he expects. Something small and...quaint.

[stauncherhearted]

"My birthday isn't really anything I wanted to celebrate this year," she tells him, with a slight bow of her head. "Unfortunately people have a way of finding things out. So I really just did a bunch of little things with different people. Caroline had a sleep-over, Eames took me to the theatre," Cooper brought her flowers and the jewelry she was wearing tonight.

But she knew better than to mention her boyfriend to Cesare. He was so bitter about it.

Gosh, if he'd wanted to date her, he should have asked her out first.

[longterm]

"I didn't know you liked the theatre," Cesare says with an eyebrow quirk and a smile. Although, truth be told, he doesn't really know much about what Nancy likes outside of the bedroom. He's not trying to be a bit of a rude ass. He's just being one by accident.

"How was it?"

[stauncherhearted]

Nancy gives him a small nod. "Yeah- I always wanted to be an actress, when I grew up." She admits the fact easily. Fagin always said she was a good actress, and she was proud of it.

"Fantastic! I had so much fun."