sanctuary holiday party

[mehanizovati]

Who: Anyone, open to all
What: Sanctuary's holiday party, low key since it's a hectic irl month. There will be a handwave thread for just that.
When: the last week of december
Where: sanctuary

Content Warnings: alcohol, others to be put in headers



Welcome to Sanctuary's attempt at a holiday party. It's open door, feel free to have heard about from word of mouth, a friend, just walking by and being curious.

It's also half planned by a man who doesn't know the first thing about any winter holidays, so that will probably be fine.


The kitchen is the drop off area for people who brought food. It's also open for people who want to prepare something themselves. The general instruction for anyone who asked what to bring was nostalgic food, something from their world, something from their preferred holiday this time of year. Because of that the selection is a bit wacky, but a lot of the staples are there.

Like cookies of various sorts, hot chocolate, a big bowl of some spiked drink that people are hopefully guarding from the wayward youth. Feel free to take a turn doing so or making it worse. Otherwise it's pretty much just a buffet of people moving in and out, taking a plate to wander.


Ugly sweaters are apparently a tradition so there's a pile of them in one of the rooms, brought by none other than Vi. Anyone is welcome to go and steal one, they're terrible. Imagine what Trench thrift stores would have in terms of ugly holiday sweaters and despair.

Music wafts through the rooms as well, again a weird combination of whatever holiday music seemed appropriate. The central room to the party has a tree, only it's made of metal and looks more on the menacing side than festive. Presents can be placed under there, ones that will be sent to Koz Orphanage for their own celebrations.

Speaking of there's a table for making decorations. Craft stuff, glitter and glue, origami and instructions on how to make stars and simple chains. It's clearly meant more for the Koz kids when they visit but no one's going to stop anyone from unleashing their muse over here. In fact it's encouraged to hang the decorations up when done wherever you'd like, including the increasingly cluttered, dangerous metal tree.

It's more than likely mistletoe ended up tacked up somewhere. Hey, at least it's not Trench bullshit magic mistletoe, it can be easily ignored.


Outside lights are strung up everywhere, the snow is fresh and it's a lot quieter in general. Not a bad place to wander, or to start hurling snow at people so it's immediately less quiet.

Comments

[poorlittlesange]

It is a courteous term of address for gentlemen, where I am from. [a simple enough explanation for one strand of the intricate web of social rules that dictates life in the cultivation world.

something in his eyes quickens sharply at the words 'i suppose i co-founded it,' because what good fortune for jin guangyao to have stumbled unintentionally into a conversation with someone so well connected to such valuable work. and, his memory helpfully reminds him, 'viktor' had been on that list of names provided to him by palamedes when he first arrived in trench (a man well-connected to sanctuary and primarily devoted to corruption research). there's an edge of--something, in his polite expression. like he's just make an exceptionally satisfying chess maneuver and is granting himself permission to feel self-satisfied about it for half a second. then it is gone, and his inoffensive little smile is just that again, small and inoffensive.]

This one spoke of such matters with a colleague of yours, perhaps a month or two ago. Palamedes-xiansheng? [namedrop!! he goes on,] And Sansa-gungiang as well. The corruption here is similar to the resentful energy responsible for monsters, demons, fierce corpses, and other evil forces in my world. All people are impacted by such evil, but as Viktor-xiansheng says, it is the common people who bear the brunt of such hardship. This one would be most curious to learn more about your research. Perhaps I could be of use. [a different glint in his eyes now; being 'of use' somewhere in this city seems as essential to jin guangyao as breathing air.]

[mehanizovati]

[a nod there, he's heard similar here though never that particular one. the reaction though, it's subtle but he's been to enough galas looking for patrons and funds for Hextech to have a sense of when someone's actually become interested beyond the polite veneer.

which is satisfying in it's own way, given there are more than a few people who prefer the status quo over what sanctuary tries to accomplish. he's never envied allen his juggling of abrasive personalities looking to bemoan tragedy and violence were simply the way of the world.

and hey, a palamedes namedrop never hurts.] Ah yes, my research partner and husband. [needs to remember to actually tell people that. a similar flicker crosses his face, curiosity latching to his mention of the energy in his world.]

I'd be happy to, especially if you're willing to share more about your world and how it works against this resentful energy. We have managed to cure beasthood with the use of powers two people brought here from their own world- not eh, not a perfect success rate but several natives have been saved.

I think- [his tone gets far less polite and polished for company as he speaks now, turning more into work mode and the passion he has for it.] - that learning from other magic systems across worlds could be the key to untangling matters. The Trench, the blood system, the ocean, it is all very malleable. It adapts to us as much as we adapt to it. If we can turn that to our advantage we may find a more lasting, easily accessible solution.

[poorlittlesange]

[jin guangyao senses viktor's gear shift and matches it, to a degree. he's pathologically incapable of appearing anything other than perfectly attentive and polite especially when in public, but some of his carefully maintained public 'face' is done away with. the expression that replaces it, while no less courteous, is a hair too focused and attentive to be worn while engaging in pleasant small-talk. and if he's gauged viktor's level of investment in this work, then they are surely beyond such things anyway.

--wait a minute, did he say 'husband'? palamedes-xiansheng is viktor's--no, there's good momentum here, don't derail it. put a pin in that thought and come back to it later. jin guangyao smiles.]

This one would be most pleased to share what knowledge and experience he can with Viktor-xiansheng and Palamedes-xiansheng, whenever is convenient for both of you. I have had success already with applying my martial arts and spiritual cultivation techniques to banishing monsters and suppressing what I would describe as resentful energy here in Trench. Perhaps--

[abruptly, his smile freezes into a rictus for about 0.5 seconds. the following thought experiment burns itself through his weird little brain in the ensuing 0.5 second pause:

(oh no. oh god. jin guangyao has made a terrible mistake. what are the social mores that he should observe when speaking to one married man without his husband present? do such mores even exist in trench? should he now refer to viktor-xiansheng as sextus-furen, now that he is aware of his marital status? no, that won't work, furen is for wives, viktor-xiansheng surely is not one of those. ...unless he is? his eyes widen a fraction. is that the done thing here? all those quibbling little details aside, the big question, the most important question, has to be this one: has jin guangyao inadvertently caused great and irreparable offence both to his new colleague, palamedes-xiansheng, and palamedes-xiansheng's honoured spouse, be he husband or wife, through addressing him so informally and without his husband present?

jin guangyao's hypothesis, based on all the available evidence so far, is: probably not, no. leaving aside that viktor seems, you know, fine, it also seems unlikely that someone like palamedes who, after knowing jin guangyao for less than five minutes, was only too willing to talk his ear off about the curvature of bird wings and whether pigeons were too round, would stand on ceremony about this matter. and even if jin guangyao has acted in error, he's unlikely to be murdered about it.

in summary, oopsie, but it's probably fine.)

whatever that was about, his smile relaxes after only half a second, and he continues,] Perhaps we could arrange a time to meet where I could provide a better demonstration of my capabilities for your examination. Then we could discuss which techniques may be of most use to your research.

[mehanizovati]

[if only viktor was one of those mindreading palebloods, he would have been in for a treat. instead he just nods along, already formulating plans and further projects in his mind. taking mild note of the very short pause but thinking nothing of it. surely nothing to mention at all there.]

Yes, Palamedes and I are here more often than not these days. [the heating system helps, viktor loathes the cold.] Would an afternoon this week do?

[he glances around a moment just to see if he could call pal over- can't see the stickbug at the moment either so he lets it go for now. better things to focus on, such as,] Have you used these techniques against a beast or highly corrupted individual yet? I'd be very curious to hear the results.

[poorlittlesange]

[bullet dodged tbh. jin guangyao will never forget this near-miss with an unforgivable social faux-pas, but he will outclass anyone in his efforts to pretend that it never happened.]

I have no prior commitments, [he assures viktor with a smile, which is the truth, because he doesn't have a regular job that keeps him busy during the day yet beyond trading modest talismans in exchange for other goods and services.] I would be delighted to meet this week.

[as for the rest, he pauses to consider, then offers,]

I have not used talismans or arrays, as such. But I have used musical cultivation to quell the spiritual unrest in a friend's mind, which seems to reduce the intensity of his blood power manifestations. [there's a bit more to it than that, he knows, but divulging more detail risks identifying mike, and jin guangyao would prefer to keep his friends' confidences, where possible. he smiles a touch apologetically.] It can be a difficult subject to explain to those with no familiarity with cultivation. Perhaps I could demonstrate the technique when we meet with Palamedes-xiansheng.

[mehanizovati]

Excellent. When Palamedes is done babysitting his volleyball team we can establish a time. [what a sentence that really shows you the kind of maverick oddball palamedes sextus is.

ah, viktor already looks incredibly intrigued, fingers itching for a pen to start scribbling notes. he just barely refrains, taking mental notes instead. musical cultivation sounds incredibly promising.]

We have a lab here for corruption research, if you ever wish for a place to test anything. It tends to be safer. [allen alone made it less of a risk, really.] Musical cultivation, is this like weaving magic into sound?

[poorlittlesange]

[yeah that sure is one hell of a sentence. jin guangyao doesn't quite go on a face journey while trying to parse it. maybe a bit of a face field trip. face day excursion. anyway, he comes back to the present promptly when that invitation is extended, the confusion in his expression around the whole volleyball thing evaporating as his eyes light up.]

I believe it is similar, xiansheng, yes, [about musical cultivation, that is.] The effectiveness of the music will depend on the amount of spiritual energy that a cultivator can pour into the playing of the notes, which will in turn be limited by the strength of his golden core. Ah, [he stops himself and laughs in a self-effacing manner,] my apologies, in my eagerness I am perhaps getting ahead of myself.

[mehanizovati]

[wait until he sees they're a bunch of children and the team name is 'hotwings.' incredible.

viktor waves a hand though.] No apologies necessary, I'm well aware how fascinating topics tend to get away from us. I suppose we should wait to discuss it all at length. [with the tone of someone disappointed because he wants to ask about golden cores and spiritual energy badly, okay.]

In truth I would much rather be back at the lab, discussing this. I don't see how anyone could find all this a relaxing way to spend the evening.