fandomtownies | Caritas- Tuesday- New Year's Eve Party

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Caritas- Tuesday- New Year's Eve Party

It was New Year's and Kitty had to work! Obviously there might as well be a party, right? The bar still had Christmas lights up so at least it looked pretty, but other than the traditional hats, noisemakers, and obnoxious 2020 glasses available both in the door and in the back room because this was festive, the place wasn't that decorated.

But there was plenty of food and drink available, and Kitty would be at the bar or playing hostess, whichever was needed, and the TV was on so everyone could watch the ball drop.

Tino was still not allowed to dress up as the New Year's baby. You were all safe.

[All-ages party, up early for timezones and RL!]

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"Hey hey, look who's back in town," Duke said, raising his beer in a little toast. "How you been, buddy?"

"Duke-san ♥!" Shunsui couldn't help grinning back at that terribly handsome face, lifting his own, perhaps slightly incongrious beer in response. The otoso sake, after all, needed to be enjoyed in the proper fashion tonight, so it would be a plethora of exploration of different drinks in between. "Yara, I've made it back all in one piece and fairly certain they're all the same ones, too, so I've no complaints ♥."

Well, actually, that wasn't true, he had several complaints, multitudes, even, but this was a party and hardly his mood, anyway.

"And yourself? Survived the deluge of holiday spirit from our dear fair island ♥?"

"I did," Duke agreed. "With only minor damage to my boat from all that sugar." He'd invested in so many tarps and hoses over the last month. ". . . And one angry barista who didn't understand that a mistletoe-kiss wasn't the same as a commitment. Which actually doesn't sound that weird when you leave out the part where the mistletoe was autonomous and possibly sentient."

"But that part does sound much more Fandom," Shunsui noted with a thoughtful sort of hum, because it was honestly hard to picture a scenario where it would've involved just normal, regular mistletoe over the holidays, if he was honest. "And I suppose at least you weren't bored..."

And if that sounded just a touch sardonic, well, that's because it most certainly was.

"I was not at all bored," Duke agreed. "And I'm very glad it's all over with for awhile."

He was going to hate himself so much later for saying tha.

That usually was how things went around here, yes.

"And what will," Shunsui drawled in amusement, "you do with yourself in the meantime ♥?"

"Oh, you know, so fishing, some cooking. The occasional backroom deal." Duke shrugged. "The usual."

"Same old, same old, eh ♥?" Shunsui asked, with a wave of his hand. "No teaching on the agenda this time around, Duke-san?"

"Not that I've heard about yet," Duke said. "But I didn't find out about it the first time around until I showed up at the picnic, so honestly, who knows?"

He was really going to have to start planning and scheduling his own classes. Which he'd realize the moment he saw what the title and description of his latest class assignment was.

Oddly enough, Shunsui couldn't relate to that particular torment, even with his teaching record, but it was one of the few things he was actually proactive about pursuing...

...if only because it allowed for an excellent excuse toward the things he was actively avoiding.

"Well," he stated, almost magnamously, with a tilt of his head and another lift of his beer, "here's to joping you've still plenty of time for your fishing and cooking and back room deals between all the various crises and nonsense ♥."

And with that--one of many, many toasts he imagined he'd be making throughout the night--Shunsui finished off the drink and considered his next. "Are you familiar with otoso, Duke-san ♥?"

Duke took a good long sip of his own beer, because no one should be toasting alone. "That's the spiced sake, right? I've heard about it."

"Spiced sake," Shunsui confirmed with a nod, reaching for his jug of sake but not his usual one, "traditionally consumed during the New Year to usher in good luck and chase away bad spirits ♥."

A detail that would always make him, in particular, seem incredibly amused.

"Would you be interested? They say the more we drink, the more the good fortune will spread ♥."

And who couldn't love a tradition like that?

"Shunshi-san," Duke said. "When have I ever turned down your sake?"

That was an excellent response, and Shunsui's lazy, crooked grin balanced itself out brightly. "Never yet ♥," he noted, "and let's not have this be the first ♥!"

Especially not with good fortune and good health on the line!

So Shunsui shifted over to the nearest table where he could set down the three cups that went along with otoso and carefully began to pour. "So we share three cups," he explained, "beginning with the smallest and working our way up, with the youngest," he nodded his head in deference to Duke's radiant, mortal youthfulness, "drinking first, before passing it along, all the while with hopes and well wishes for a fortitous new year. Simple enough, neh ♥?

"Sounds like fun," Duke said. "This a 'drink it down and refill' kind of sharing, or the 'sipping and passing back and forth' kind?"

"Sipping and passing," Shunsui confirmed. "The sharing is the important thing."

It was also intended to be shared with a larger group, but Shunsui had modified it a little to make it a bit more...intimate.

And to increase the amount of otoso consumed.

It was a vast improvement all around, if you asked him.

"Unless you're worried about cooties, Duke-san ♥."

"Pretty sure if they were a concern, we'd both already be screwed." And so would the woman they'd both been kissing of late. "Just want to make sure I get the tradition correct. I'd hate to invite bad luck into my new year already."

"That would be unfortunate ♥," Shunsui agreed, and, the three cups poured, he set down the sake jug and gestured toward the first, smallest one. "Well, then, Duke-san...the night may still be young, but we are only getting older ♥."

Duke picked up the cup and considered. "Well then. To enjoying what we have before it's gone." He took a sip and held the cup out for Shunsui. "That is some nice stuff."

"I should hope so ♥!" Shunsui said with a laugh as he took the cup and lifted it as if in a salute to that thought before drinking down the rest. "If you're only drinking it one time of the year, it had better be worth the wait ♥. But I'm glad to hear you approve, Duke-san."

"You only ever carry the best, don't you, Shunsui-san. I should be so wise by the time I die."

Out in public, when he knew he'd be sharing? Absolutely.

But he was hardly picky when it came to what he drank otherwise. Shunsui was rather rich, it was true, but he wasn't that rich. No one was...except maybe the Kuchiki clan.

"Well," he noted, "if my experience is anything to go by, Duke-san...you'll still have more than enough to still figure it out afterwards, too."

"Might be," Duke said. "I'm kind of still hoping for a good reincarnation though, gotta admit."

Shunsui had been one of those special Souls that was reborn into some completely new life and couldn't remember anything about who he was before he entered the Soul Society, so, as far as he knew, he really had landed a really good reincarnation, but he rather hoped that wasn't the case, because...yikes, that poor, poor man.

"And what," asked Shunsui, gesturing idly toward the next cup in the trio as invitation for Duke to proceed, "if I may ask, would you consider to be a good reincarnation, anyway ♥?"

"Honestly?" Duke gave a little half smile, a gleam in his eye. "Something wild. I've never liked being tied down."

Caritas- Tuesday- New Year's Eve Party

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