though it's been said many times, many ways

[more_magic]

It’s strange to think of where he was a year ago, exactly. Waking up in Alex’s bed, hung over from the shame of the night before and the lingering effects of whatever Manuscript had given him, preparing for his first full day in a city outside of the world he knew and realizing in the process that he’d lost nearly two months in the space of a breath. There were more shocks to come, more alterations in what he thought to be true, but very little had managed to surpass the disorientation of that initial beginning to his tenure in Darrow.

Back then, Darlington had wondered what they might have done at home, if Alex would’ve been on a plane to California at the start of break--or if he might have managed to convince her to stay, to spend Christmas at Black Elm with him. What they got instead was better, that makeshift celebration with hastily-bought gifts and the smell of a half-remembered recipe wafting from Alex’s kitchen; the start of something new, even if neither of them had known the depths of that newness at the time. And now, a year on, through hard work and some kind of miracle, he gets what he’d wondered about after all.

Christmas Day will be just for them, presents and breakfast and relaxing by the fire, but tonight is a chance to celebrate. They decorate the main floor of Black Elm, filling the rooms they’ve already managed to furnish with light and warmth, the tree they’d bought earlier in the month standing by one of the large picture windows in the great room. Alex cooks all of Estrea Stern’s recipes she can think of, adds a few of Bernadette’s that Darlington remembers from his childhood. There’s music low on the stereo, a fire lit in the vast fireplace, the new table and chairs they’d bought for the formal dining room arranged just so beneath the chandelier at the center of the room. Even Kirby gets into the spirit in a new, festive collar, bright red against his black fur.

Above all, they’ve invited the people that matter, the few who have come to mean something--to one or both of them--in the year that’s just passed. It’s the first real party Black Elm has seen in many years, not since Darlington’s grandfather was alive. It feels, once again, like starting something new.

[[tag in, tag around, enjoy the party!]]

Comments

[scarequotesreggie]

Seeing as how he doesn't really know anybody here well save Alex, and even considering just how well he knows her, Reggie thinks that he should probably hang back a bit. Relax by the fire, maybe introduce himself to people one at a time, just take it easy and enjoy being a part of something for a change, instead of coasting through existence as quickly as possible.

Reggie does not do any of that.

"All right, who wants eggnog?" he loudly asks, picking something festive and staking his claim. "You'll have to go through the Keeper of the Nog. Here is the nog, and I am its keeper."

Good food, good company, maybe it's a far cry from being back home with his friends, but it's... something like it, regardless.

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"The Keeper of the Nog?"

Caleb is laughing, just a little, when he hears that. Neil isn't too far away — close enough that he can still feel the soft, dark blue of his emotions, not so close that he can overhear anything he's talking about — so for the moment, at least, all he feels is good.

He looks at the eggnog, then bites his lip.

"That's not spiked, is it?" There is alcohol here, Caleb knows, but he hasn't been keeping track of where.

[scarequotesreggie]

"The Keeper of the Nog accommodates all tastes!" Reggie replies as ostentatiously as he can, flipping open his suit jacket to reveal a bottle of decent brandy (judging by the house they're in, Alex and her guy probably have something much nicer available, but this is a sacred duty that he has taken upon himself, after all). "Alcohol can be added according to the specific desires of those who entreat upon Him, but the purity of the nog must be maintained until then."

That means no. Somehow.

"Unless you get turnt off of nutmeg, I guess?"

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"What the fuck," Caleb snickers. He wonders whether this guy is a friend of Daniel's or a friend of Alex's — or both, like he is — but either way, Caleb thinks maybe he likes him.

"Uh, no, nog purity all the way, Man." He does a little fist pump, as if in solidarity, then eyes the eggnog. "Am I, uh, allowed to have a glass?"

[scarequotesreggie]

Reggie crosses his arms and leans back for a second, squinting at the guy in appraisal of... who knows what, really.

"The Keeper of the Nog deems you... worthy," he finally relents before grinning and ladling out a hearty glass of everybody's favorite beverage that they convince themselves isn't disgusting for two months out of the year.

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"Thanks," he says, still grinning. "You're fucking weird, Dude. I mean, not in a bad way. Just... weird."

He looks for Neil, just keeping track of him in case things start to get too much, and sips his eggnog as he does. Then he looks at the guy again.

"Are you a friend of Alex's, or Daniel's?" He will not call him Darlington. Ever.

[scarequotesreggie]

"I'm a lot of things," Reggie shrugs. And if always needing to be the center of attention, maybe to a pathological degree, is weird, then he doesn't ever want to be... whatever the opposite of weird is.

"Like a friend of Alex's! She's pretty much the only person I know here, actually, hence why I'm playing the wallflower so much," he adds, batting his eyes innocently.

[greatamazingfeelingsboy]

"Right," he says. His eyes narrow, but technically, the guy isn't lying — at least, not enough for his bullshit buzzer to go off. He nods, using his glass to gesture towards the rest of the party.

"I'm friends with both," he explains. "I mean, Alex first, and then I almost beat Daniel up while he was at work, so."

[scarequotesreggie]

"Ha! Nice," Reggie laughs. Not that he has anything against the guy -- Reggie doesn't know him for one, and Alex seems fairly crazy about him so he must be okay -- but, well. Some things are just ingrained. "I'd have way fewer friends if I cut out all the people I've been in a fight with, it's all good."

[takecourage]

"Are you ever off, asshole?" says Alex, but she's grinning when she says it, leaning her ass against the edge of the table and folding her arms across her chest. "You think anymore about the job?"

Alex had managed to get him a hook up for three nights a week emceeing, plus bar-shifts when they needed the hand. She just needed Reggie to make his mind up about it. "We closed tonight and tomorrow, anyway."

[scarequotesreggie]

"There'll be plenty of time to shut up when I'm dead," Reggie wryly replies, reaching around Alex to freshen up his drink. As for the rest of it...

"Of course I have, I'm totally into it, but do you know how long it's been since I just walked away from a job I hated? I used to be so good at it, what if I've lost the knack?"

[takecourage]

"Yeah, you're probably right," says Alex, though she doesn't like to think of anyone she likes dead- she's had enough of that in her life. "Ifyou hate it, just tell them to go fuck themselves. How hard can it be?"

[scarequotesreggie]

"Oof, so vulgar," Reggie says with an exaggerated wince, as if he doesn't swear way more in Darrow than he ever did back home, for whatever reason. "It's all about finesse with these things. Maybe I can put it up as a breaking news story and then change all the passwords on my way out."

[takecourage]

"I got you a job in a strip club...where I take my clothes off for money..and you're worried about vulgar?" She huffs a laugh, rolling her eyes. "Fuck yeah. In big letters."

[scarequotesreggie]

"Ah, people get so hung up on nudity, there are way worse things out there worth clutching pearls over," Reggie scoffs, giving a dismissive wave of his hand (although given the gun violence issue back home, it's a sentiment that comes from a more genuine place than he'll let on).

"Granted, a-cussin' probably isn't one of them, so you're right, fuck 'em."

[takecourage]

"Yeah, you're going to fit in fine," says Alex, shaking her head. "I've got to go do kitchen stuff. Want to come hang out for a while? I can maybe even find you something useful to do."

[scarequotesreggie]

"Sure," Reggie brightly agrees. "My girlfriend ran a catering business back home, so I am well acquainted with repetitive kitchen gruntwork, just point me in the right direction, wind me up, and let me go."

[more_magic]

There's an energy to Reggie that makes Darlington think of the parties Jordan and E.J. had dragged him to over the two years he'd roomed with them. They, and the people at them, were full of a loud, reckless pretense that had annoyed as much as he'd envied it. There was a freedom to being that blithe and unconcerned, so willing to throw oneself into a situation rather than hang back. For all that he's taught himself, the push and pull of effort and the satisfaction of having it rewarded, ease is a thing Darlington's only ever been able to feign.

He's been shuttling between the kitchen and the great room at Alex's request, bringing out plates and trays of appetizers as they're ready while the dinner itself cooks. Setting down another platter, he overhears Reggie addressing the room at large and has to laugh.

"That title could use some work. Straightforward though it is."

[scarequotesreggie]

"Gasp," Reggie gasps with all the mock affront he can muster (it's a lot). "Whomst so dares to dishonor the position of Nogkeeper?"

Ah, yes. The boyfriend.

"Now you don't get any nog." He hesitates a moment before offering a half-full glass with a grin. He is in the other man's home, after all. "Well, only a little bit."

[more_magic]

He answers the question with little more than the lift of one eyebrow, but takes the glass when it's offered. Somehow, it doesn't surprise him that Alex managed to collect a friend like him--nor that she'd apparently recommended him for a job at the club. He doesn't know much, doesn't ask much aside from what Alex chooses to tell him, but Darlington can imagine this much showmanship will fit right in.

"It's Reggie, right?" he says. "Good of you to come."

[scarequotesreggie]

It is good of him, isn't it? "You're welcome," Reggie replies with a smirk, well aware that no actual thanks were given.

"I gotta say, this place of yours is pretty amazing, it might really be something special. You gotta any, like, before and after pictures? Alex says you guys have put a ton of work into it."

[more_magic]

"It's always been something special."

More than the smirk, it's the might that gets under his skin, provokes him in a way that Darlington knows is irrational but that he can't help. Black Elm was his long before that was legally true; he'd grown up beneath its steep and sloping roof, within the high stone walls, among the overgrown gardens surrounding the house. He loved it, deeper and longer than he'd loved anything aside from magic--and there were times the two were so intertwined as to be nearly indistinguishable.

Reggie has no way of knowing that, he's more than aware, but it rankles anyway. He takes a sip of eggnog, regrettably surprised to find that whatever Reggie's done to it has only improved the taste.

"But you're right, we've put in a lot of work," he says. "The after is easy enough to see just looking around, but I'm pretty sure we both have pictures of when it first showed up here."

[scarequotesreggie]

"'Course it has," Reggie agrees quickly, still smiling so at not to seem too dismissive of the staunch defense of the place. "I mean, a whole mansion, that's a hell of a get, as far as random gifts from home go, no matter what state it's in. I'll have to see those pictures sometime; who doesn't love a good fixer-upper, right?"

[more_magic]

The backpedaling shouldn't be as satisfying as it is, but Darlington lets himself appreciate it just for a moment. "It wasn't the gift I expected," he says, "and from what I've learned it's definitely an unusual one, but I'm glad to have it."

The contrast between his gift from the city and Alex's is still deeply unfair; trauma from the latter, and overwhelming delight from the former. There are days when Darlington would trade every hour he's spent at Black Elm for the sake of redressing that imbalance, letting her have something other than a fractured, bloody weapon to remember her life at home. But exchange is not how this kind of magic works, whatever power fuels Darrow and guides the patterns of their lives here, and until he learns what does all Darlington can do is make sure few things hurt her like that again.

"I'm sure if you catch Alex on a break at work, she'd have photos to show you," he says. "She did a lot of the painting upstairs while I was in class, so I know she has some good in-progress shots." He takes another drink of his eggnog. God, it really was good. "Have you started yet? You're bartending, right?"

[scarequotesreggie]

Reggie waves a hand in the air a little noncommittally. He's committed himself to starting, at least? Committed himself to finding a job that does slightly more than just pay him money, one that might actually be remotely enjoyable on a personal level for a change?

"Bartending and emceeing, yeah. I'm just, you know, transitioning life phases right now so there's a little heel-dragging involved."

For such an entry-level gig, it feels an awful lot like finally committing himself to Darrow for the long-term, somehow.