paradisa | HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All that clamor from the lion dance prancing down the halls should be enough to draw attention to the party, even without actual invitations. If not the noise, then perhaps the delicious smell wafting under every door and leading back to the ballroom.

The castle is vain, if nothing else. It has decorated the ballroom in the deepest red and brightest gold with auspicious greetings in the common language tastefully posted about the hall. May your happiness be without end, one says, while another goes May all your wishes be fulfilled. Small order, all things considered.

Round dining tables (with the turning glass part) are set up in the middle of the hall, each with about ten chairs and piles of food fit for a whole village. There are two more lion dance teams hopping about the hall and making a racket while occasionally nabbing that dumpling straight from your chopsticks. That should the least of your concerns, however, with many residents still aiming to settle their grudges before the new year.

Watch your back.

[ ooc; IC mingle log for Lunar New Year plot, feel free to make your own threads! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[As much as she'd like to share, Cass keeps the fact that Connor is the sweetest kid ever to herself. He fights hard enough to be taken seriously, he doesn't need her fawning all over him to make that battle tougher.]

You'll like him, I think. He's more serious... than Ezio is.

Dreadfully serious. The boy doesn't have even the slightest urge to enjoy himself!

That eager to learn, is he?

He knows... there's a long road ahead. Wants to be prepared.

[And there's nothing wrong with that. We can't all just sleep with a million girls, Ezio.]

Yes, yes, but what can be done about that here? Nothing! [He knows that's not true, even drunk, but it's something he still resents about this place.] In our line of work, we can die any day. What man goes to his grave proud of having never felt joy, having never taken advantage of one's freedom?

Proper example you are, Mentor.

You should teach him, James. Bet he could... learn a lot, from you.

That would work. After all, it has been some eighteen years since I learned the basics... it would be closer to James' time.

We'll see. I'm no teacher.

[But he's pretty good at it.]

You'll be good, don't worry.

[And Ezio gets a wry grin.]

Pretty sure you just... called yourself old.

Ah, I am not bothered. I am middle-aged now.

Still spry, surely.

[James inclines his head towards Ezio, but speaks to Cass.]

Or does he secretly sit around in a chair when we're not looking, love?

[Oooh James, call her love forever.]

Complains about his back, too. Maybe that's why... he really won't spar.

[Ezio would bristle at James encroaching on his girl, but considering Cass is still on his lap, he has no complaints. He runs a hand down Cass's thigh, casually.]

And here I thought I was being a gentleman for refusing to strike a woman.

Find other ways.

[Just as casually, Cass relocates Ezio's hand to her waist. She sees that little bit of possessiveness in him, just the smallest bit around the edges of him, but she'd still like to keep things vaguely conversational and that gets more difficult the longer his hand is on her leg.]

Find the balance. Until then, will spar with James.