& when you understand the world

The 6th arrives, and anyone who chooses to accept the party invitation will likely have no trouble finding the correct room. The door has bouquets of gold balloons taped – no helium to be found, unfortunately – to the upper corners, curling streamers falling down underneath. The inside of the parlor has high, arched ceilings held up by columns, a few scattered settees and cushions made from red and gold damask fabrics, and several high tables, perfect for standing around and chatting. There are technically tapestries covering the walls, but you can hardly see them because the walls, columns, and ceiling have all been decorated in gently hanging vine leaves and twinkling fairy lights.

There is music playing on shuffle from an unassuming silver cd player set up in one corner, and a few tables with food and drink. One is set up with quite a spectacular assortment of finger foods, charcuterie style. One has various Mediterranean food offerings, and another one is full of desserts. Next to these tables though, are the beverage tables. One is designated with only non-alcoholic beverages. It is, admittedly, the smallest of all of the tables. As far as the alcoholic options go, if this were a party hosted by anyone else, it might seem ridiculous, but considering the god of Wine put this together, it makes absolute sense. There’s a large collection of every sort of wine you could think of, and way more of it than could conceivably be shared by everyone in the mansion, even taking into consideration the amounts certain people tend to imbibe. There isn’t just wine, however. Dionysus made sure to collect a few dozen bottles of other spirits as well. The centerpiece, which will likely catch anyone’s eye, is one of those pyramids of champagne glasses, where you start pouring the bottle at the top and each subsequent layer of glass gets filled in turn. The difference between this one and what you’d normally find, however, is that it seems to be filling itself, almost in the way you’d expect a fountain to operate, but the champagne is just appearing (and disappearing) by magic. This will likely only last for the first hour or so of the night, however long Dionysus can be sober enough to remember to keep it going.

A small dance floor space has been cleared out, should anyone decide they want to dance to the …eclectic music that’s playing. Dionysus has also brought in a lot of games from the game room, if anyone wants to spend their time with a board game or cards or the like.

Mingle, drink, be merry, drink, and most importantly, celebrate making it through Dark!