She knows the Heimlich she won't choke, not Daphne (farsick) wrote in caged, @ 2013-12-27 17:48:00
Party Time Who: Anyone invited to the Greengrass holiday party. What: A rip-roaring time. Where:Green Knoll, near Tintagel, Cornwall. When: Saturday, 28 December 1997. 6 PM til. . .??? (I'm putting this up a night early, if anyone wants to get their party on.) Status: Open for OOC/IC threads!
Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tapdanced with Danny-fuckin’-Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.
Open to anyone who was invited and able to attend! Families of Avery, Bulstrode, Burke, Crabbe, Davis, Flint, Goyle, Macmillan, Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, Patil, Selwyn, Smith, Travers, and Zabini, plus Lisa Turpin and Max Urquhart.
Others to be found roaming around throughout the night include several Ministry personnel (especially from the Dept. of International Magical Cooperation); six Brazilian Wizard archaeologists - Aldo, Dulce, Luiz, Filomela, Magda, and Saturnino; Ogden’s higher-ups (such as Wallace Urquhart); Hogwarts fifth years (including Astoria’s BFF Georgia Macmillan and bratty boyfriend Yousef Shafiq); Demeter Greengrass and her Beefcake Quidditch Beater Arm-candy; Lyle & Miranda Greengrass and Calvin & Zenobia Travers; Cee Greengrass (who will be wandering around with her hedgehog playing pranks on people most of the night); and the two saluki hounds, Dunyazad and Scheherazade (who are very fast and are not above stealing people’s unattended food).
The party starts at 6, though anyone who arrives punctually will likely notice that it seems as if the party has already been going on for at least an hour on a smaller scale - Greengrass family members and Brazilian guests will be … jolly. The later you arrive, the more likely it is Daphne is greeting you with a hug and a cup in hand. Lyle and Irene will both be making the rounds throughout the night to make sure everyone is warmly welcomed and seen to. Ernie, Lyle is probably giving you a hearty clap on the shoulder and a waggish wink at some point, and commenting on what a fine year this must be for you and how you’ll have to find him later and tell him what your plans are for after school (don’t worry, he’ll forget he asked).
Dress is nice-casual, because nobody has time to wear something super fancy when there is snapdragon and feasting afoot. Think office party attire - dress up, dress down, no one cares. Tonight’s hottest accessory? A FULL GOBLET. Ha cha cha.
Dinner has already been laid out on tables throughout the dining room and parlor (by conspicuously absent House Elves - as is only right), and there is seating throughout all open rooms. Eating will be a fairly informal affair, and people will be free to walk and mingle as they do so. Pick and choose as you please. Food includes hors d'oeuvres, duck, sausage, pasties, squab pie, scallops, potatoes, parsnips, sprouts, winter squash soup, chilled oysters and salads, and a variety of cheeses and crackers. Later in the evening a dessert table will appear with cranberries, plum pudding, chocolates, Cornish fairings, saffron cake, fruit (with a chocolate fountain), coffee, hot cocoa, and tea.
There is a small bar in the dining room, and the downstairs room is a bar. Both are open the whole night and are well stocked with a variety of punch, wines, cachaça, liquor, and some imported beers. People can drink water, pumpkin juice, butterbeer, and non-alcoholic cider if they must but they will be judged harshly and no one will find their bodies.
Every year the Greengrasses give all guests a little favor of sorts at the end of the night. This year’s gift is a small packet of fragrant mulling spices.
House Includes the foyer, parlor, dining room, downstairs bar, and so on. The rooms are very nicely decorated for the holiday, with evergreen garlands over doors and windows, and a sprig of mistletoe hanging above the door from the foyer to the parlor because nothing is funnier than drunk people and mistletoe. Just inside the front door is a basket full of Wizard crackers, many of which were likely made by Daphne with the kit Tracey gave her for Christmas. The centerpiece of the scene is arguably the 9-foot-tall fir tree in the parlor, covered in colorful ornaments and fairy lights. Fireplaces and candles will be lit throughout the evening. Most of the rooms smell faintly of cinnamon, and there is some jazzy holiday-type background music in a few.
The bartenders are two middle-aged Wizards named Gustave and Bruno, and they are prone to flirting shamelessly with any young ladies who happen to want a drink. Sorry?
Snap-dragon At 8 o’clock it is time for the yearly game of snap-dragon. Anyone who has been to the Greengrasses’ Christmas party in previous years (so basically everyone) will know that this is tradition and while no one is required to play, it is highly encouraged and after two+ hours of drinking and eating there is much goading involved. It will be played in the foyer until a winner is declared. Try your hand if you dare, but know that Demeter Greengrass came to win and once pushed Gavin Travers’ face into the flaming bowl to secure her victory.
Outside Weather tonight is pleasant enough for winter and typical of Green Knoll’s southern seaside climes - cloudless, a bit breezy, and in the low-40s. The infamous Whisky Fountain is just outside the back of the house, and will be flowing with cinnamon firewhisky all night. It is topped with five marble dragon heads, which will be intermittently spurting multi-colored flames into the night. Bring your cups and possibly your flame-retardant clothing.
Speaking of fire, any walking paths outside - to the front door, around the property, out to the barn or pond - are lined with flaming cresset baskets, so mind your heads, given that breeze.
Pond It was too warm for the pond to freeze naturally, but as they say, Magic Is Might. At least when it comes to nature not living up to your expectations. The pond is magically frozen and if anyone wants to brave the ice to skate or just fall over a lot, they are welcome to do so at no risk of falling through.
Barn The disused barn is less gross and sketchy than it sounds. It has been decorated for the party, if somewhat more rustically than the house, and has ample warming charms to keep it pleasantly toasty. There are garlands, lights, some tables and comfy seating, and also bales of hay. People can bring their drinks from the house, but there is a table of beverages, including a punch bowl that refills itself (and could easily be spiked if someone had a flask), and some snack foods along one of the walls.
A record player and wireless are set up and will be playing whatever is currently the popular ~young people music~ (so probably some WanD, Little Wand, Weird Sisters, Spellbound, old school Hobgoblins, and more danceable stuff) in one half of the barn if people have one too many drinks and are stricken with the urge to get their grooves on.
There is a fire pit outside, for roasting marshmallows and probably participating in less safe activities because teenagers. This is clearly where most of the Hogwarts crowd are expected to congregate for most of the evening. It’s unlikely anyone over the age of 20 or so is going to bother. Cee has a pet goat called Ferdinand that is known to bite, and he’s probably out here somewhere.
Garden It’s walled in with stone, has a creaky gate, and is pretty much full of dead plants and a few bare trees at the moment. Probably not the most festive or exciting place to hang out, but there are places to sit and walk if you need a break from the lunacy. Watch out for Cee. She likes to hide in here and try to scare people sometimes.
Feel free to open up OOC/IC threads with your characters and/or NPCs in the headings below throughout the night!