New Year, Who Dis? - OTA

[blueberryprincess]

Who: Evie Grimhilde and YOU
What: New Years Eve Party
When: New Years Eve until New Years Day.
Where: Driftcrest Hotel Ballroom and reserved hotel rooms for people to stay the night safely in.
Warnings: Language probably, will update as needed.

Another setting change, and this time a new set of mysteries to examine. One of which is, apparently, something that has armed guards on a wall and people afraid to be out past 8 PM. So Evie wasn't sure if she could reserve this hotel or not, considering that sort of thing was usually expensive.

But once she explained to the hotel manager what she wanted to do and the intended timeframe, she was a little shocked when he just shoved room keys at her. It was apparently a rule that people helped keep each other safe in Driftcrest, and that meant taking a minor financial hit.

At least, they said it was minor. And they said Mr Wechester covered this kind of thing, but Evie didn't feel right just letting them do this. Later in the week, Evie will take family photos at Sun and Fun and then discuss new curtains for several of the rooms.

For now, Evie and friends are setting up a new years eve party in the Driftcrest ballroom.

There's a table full of various finger foods and drinks, some of which are marked for adults, and it's very obvious that Evie put a lot of effort into making sure the food was delicious and visually apealing.

There were tables for people to sit down at, a very talented DJ who took requests for people on the dance floor, and a table covered in noisemakers, silly hats and confetti guns to celebrate with at midnight.

And, for those wanting to stay the night in the hotel, Evie has room keys.

This is open to all, and Evie was sure to send the message town-wide. Now she just hoped people showed.

Comments

[legacyofarose]

It was certainly difficult not to notice him, but Rosabella's attention was drawn to him not because of how he looked, but because she couldn't help thinking of - and missing - her father.

She did notice that he didn't seem to talk to many others, so eventually she walked over to the refreshment table and poured out some punch.

"Here, have you tried this?" she asked, offering him a glass and a smile. The glass was a perfect size for a human, so she worried that he'd have difficulty holding it, but there wasn't anything else to accommodate his size. Except maybe the punch bowl itself.

[learningtolove]

"Oh, thank you." He did seem painfully aware of the problem his size presents, but thankfully these days with Belle's help he'd become a little more used to being a beast-sized person in a human-sized world. He hadn't broken anything accidentally in a vast stretch of time, which was quite a feat for him!

He looked at the glass for a moment before gingerly picking it up with thumb and forefinger only, which allowed it to sit comfortably without too much chance of accidentally being crushed if he used his whole paw on it. Sipping it wasn't too difficult. He was just thanking his lucky stars it was all finger food, given he still wasn't entirely proficient with most utensils.

"I don't believe we've met before," he said to the girl.

[legacyofarose]

"You're welcome. I thought you could use something to drink." With how much he was eating, it could be nice having something to wash it all down.

As she watched him carefully hold the glass to drink from, she could see the aura of nervousness around him. He had been wrapped in the pale yellow color all evening, and she hoped she could help alleviate some of his uncertainty.

"I don't believe we have," she agreed. She certainly would remember seeing if him if they had. "My name is Rosabella."

[learningtolove]

"That is a nice name." He had a love-hate relationship where roses were concerned, but the second half of her name reminded him a little of Belle's, which was always a good thing in his book.

"You can call me Beast." It was a bit on the nose and there had been at least one person who had asked him what his real name was, but Beast hadn't felt like a prince in a very long time. When he was finally human again, he'd reclaim his name.

"You don't--" He swallowed, looking for a way to put things. "--Well, seem to be afraid of me." It was still a new sensation despite having been pulled into this new world some time ago.

[legacyofarose]

She smiled, and offered a polite curtsy. "Thank you. It's nice to meet you, Beast." She couldn't help but wonder if he had another name, but then again, her father was most well known as The Beast as well, so she couldn't say much about that. Although that certainly was curious.

His comment received a curious tilt of her head. "You don't seem like the type of beast I should be afraid of," she replied. Back home, she was familiar with all sorts of creatures, most of which were actually quite friendly. Only very few were considered scary or bad.

[learningtolove]

Rosabella had good manners, the kind that seemed to be more from Beast's bygone era than anything he'd found here. It was a bit refreshing to have something familiar he could hold onto, especially in the middle of the party when he was still feeling so uncomfortable.

He smiled, trying to keep as few sharp teeth on display as possible. "I try not to be. But some are quick to judge based on appearances only." Hence why Beast had only left his castle on the rarest of occasions before he'd ended up here.

[legacyofarose]

She nodded in understanding. "I know," she replied. Even in other worlds, it seemed, some things about people never change. "But I like to look passed what people seem like on the outside. Besides, you kind of remind me of my world back home."

[learningtolove]

'You'll have to help her look past all that.' The words Mrs. Potts had spoken still resonated a lot with Beast. He'd been too stubborn to work on changing himself for good before, but now he had real reason to.

"What is your world like?" He asked curiously. He'd started to learn just how different other worlds from his own.

[legacyofarose]

"Well, actually, I live in a world of fairy tales. My friends and I are the children of the figures from fairy tales, and we're in school learning in order to carry on their stories. Although," she adds with a bit of a laugh, "some of us are starting to flip the script a bit and change our destinies."

[learningtolove]

Beast becomes a bit more interested. It sounds like Rosabella's world is far different from his own.

"I have a--" He pauses, hesitating as he tries to think of a way to describe his relationship with Belle. In the end, he just settles for the simplest one. "--a friend who loves to read. She's read to me out of a book of fairy tales before. I never knew there might be a world in which they were real."

[legacyofarose]

She can't help a small smile. Something about the way he mentioned his friend felt rather sweet. "Oh yes. The magic of the stories is what keeps our world alive."

[learningtolove]

"Then I suppose I will have to learn to read better so that I may read more stories." He'd never considered before just how important reading could be, but then, Belle had begun to open up a whole new world to him when she'd encouraged him to work on his rudimentary skills.

"If you come from a world of fairy tales, then who are you the daughter of?" He asked curiously, wondering if he might have even read her tale at some point or another.

[legacyofarose]

She looked at him with a curious tilt of her head. "Oh, do you need help learning to read? I love reading, so I'd be glad to help if you'd like."

Her face lit up a little, and her smile brightened. "I'm actually the daughter of Beauty and the Beast...or, well, a Beast, I guess."

[learningtolove]

"I know how to read!" Beast says huffily. Then he adds on in a more sheepish tone. "....Just not very well." So he would definitely take Rosabella up on that offer.

His little ears flick up and down when she mentions the fairy tale. Something was starting to turn around in his head but perhaps it was all mere coincidence. "I've never heard of that one before. What was the tale about?"

[legacyofarose]

"Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your skills. Just let me know if you want some help."

Getting a cup of punch for herself, she takes a sip before continuing. "It's about a prince that gets turned into a beast, and a girl that is able to lift the curse by being able to see past his outwardly appearance."

[learningtolove]

Well. He very nearly dropped his glass when Rosabella told him that her parents had essentially played out his life's story. That was-- Uh, Beast had no idea what to make of that.

He could always chalk it up to coincidence, but while Beast isn't the brightest all the time, he's certainly not stupid. Trying to play this off like it somehow didn't matter was one step too far even for him. So he swallows, blue eyes having gone wide with shock. "That's--that's exactly what happened to me."

[legacyofarose]

She could see the auras of confusion and surprise suddenly rolling off him like waves, and she hesitated for a moment. Back home, it wasn't uncommon for stories to overlap or have similar elements to them, so someone getting cursed and turned into a beast wasn't entirely uncommon.

But he wasn't from her world, so she could understand how unsettling that could be, for something that happened in a fairytale to happen in life.

"That's..." she hesitates, because she isn't entirely sure what it is. "That's so strange."

[learningtolove]

Such an eerie coincidence. Beast, given he'd never left his castle if he could help it for the past ten years, had no idea if there was anyone else who was undergoing the same sort of thing as him. He'd never known if he'd been a one-off since he'd refused the Enchantress and everyone else had passed her test or if there were dozens of people in similar situations as him, cloistered away until they could break their own curse.

"Very, very strange." Beast agrees. "It does seem very similar to what happened to me. Or--what I had hoped would happen. There was a girl staying with me at my castle. I had hoped she would be the one to break the spell on me. We were--" He hesitates, trying to find the right words. "--we were very close."

[legacyofarose]

She pauses for a moment, because it does seem like his experiences closely followed her parents' story. But she was certain this wasn't her father.

Deciding to consider that at a later time, she instead focuses on what else he's saying. "What is she like?"

[learningtolove]

"She's....she's beautiful." That's the first thing that comes to mind but he's quick to clarify so that he doesn't sound shallow. "Not just outside but inside as well. She's kind and loving, even towards me, and can be very stubborn when she wants to be." The last quality he gives out makes him laugh a little. "I know that doesn't sound like a good thing but it is when dealing with me." She needed that to take no guff from Beast and call him out when he was in the middle of a temper tantrum.

"Belle loves to read. The best gift I have ever given her was a library. She loved it so much." His voice and eyes both grew very soft when he spoke of Belle. She was someone he could have seen himself loving for the rest of his life, if she would have let him.

[legacyofarose]

She decides not to mention how similar that sounds to her own parents, because that would probably make things a bit weirder. Instead she smiles. "She sounds lovely. And wow, you gave her an entire library? That was pretty kind of you too."