Raine was pretty drunk and pretty high but she was also pretty bloody certain that half of these asks involved cattily directed social subtexts. Apparently leaving Hogwarts didn't mean leaving behind their drama. Nick's was obvious, both of Moira's were weirdly specific, and Ari hit one of Virgil's delicate nerves. At any rate, they had all downed a fair amount of alcohol by now - give or take the odd gillyweed preference.

            "I've somehow never managed to go more than a week without pissing off my boss."

"I don't think Pratt's ever gone a week without being pissed off at something, period." Raine laughed, toasting Fauna from across the living room as Maurice continued to purr in her lap. She ignored the last few drops of her gin and caught a glimpse of Ariadne doing otherwise.

Were they supposed to drink if they'd pissed off their bosses within the week? Or if they haven't? Godric, she was too drunk to figure it out. Raine raised her hand, as if to forestall further talk, peremptorily.

"Never ever have I.... hmm..." she glanced around at the others and her keen gaze fell on Nicholas, who had graduated from tipsiness to being full-on drunk if his generally ignored comments were anything to go by. "Never ever have I shown up at somebody's doorstep in my underwear."

Abby paused after Raine's question, grinning at Nick. She'd never - oh, wait.

She burst out laughing, and raised her glass in the air before taking a long sip.

"So," Abby looked around the room. "Story time. One day I was in muggle London, shopping, and I'd forgotten about this family dinner that my mother had scheduled. I get to my parent's house late, and the house elf opens the door, and looks aghast."

She widened her eyes in the owlish way of house elves.

"He vanishes, and a minute later my mother is bustling toward the door, and the house elf is hurrying after her, his arms full of long dress robes. Abby!" She mimicked her mother's prim, horrified voice, pointing at Nick. "Abby, what are you doing in your unmentionables? Put on a proper robe at once! Your nieces are in the very next room!"

Abby shifted back to her own voice. "It was just muggle clothing, which I told her. Like, I was wearing a tank top and a short skirt. But then she goes -- You're late, by the way! Your sister is already here, defending her work! Your father has retreated to his study! Oh! What did I do to deserve such wayward daughters?"

She flopped on the floor pillow and fluttered her hand to rest against her forehead, still holding her drink in the other.

Nicholas laughed at Abby's story and was curious as to why Sasha and Adrestia had.  "Only once?  Tonight was definitely not my first time."  He slurred a bit as he raised his glass to take yet another drink.  "Unless we are only talking apartment doors.  But there was once outside the Ravenclaw dorm and several times to usually unused classrooms."

The better question would have been had anyone been caught in their underwear by someone they hadn't wanted to be caught by.  Technically he hadn't ever been.  Since he hadn't been in his underwear at the time.

He ate a couple more bites of his food before washing it down with his drink.  "Never have I ever...had a threesome?"  Nicholas didn't drink, it was something that he wanted to do but he hadn't actually gotten to. Perfect for this game of course.  And he was hoping to be surprised.  Have someone to get some pointers from on how to talk a boyfriend into it.

Sasha knew he could be dense under the best of circumstances.  Now, under the influence of more alcohol and gillyweed then his body was used to, his ability to appreciate subtle social cues was more compromised then usual.  It wasn’t until Abby’s question that Sasha pulled himself out of the act enough to consider the larger context. 

Mostly, because, that was a highly illogical question, given the game.  Couldn’t that question apply to anyone?  Afterall, anyone who’d ever kissed a family member fell into that category.  Right?  The nature of the question had been puzzling enough to prompt Sasha to cast a long, quizzical look across the table at Abby.  Just in time to see Abby looking across the table at he and Virgil as the other young man shifted towards the food on the table.  She wasn’t taking any of this seriously, was she?  This was supposed to confuse Nicholas, not anyone else! 

Especially not Abby. 

Sasha took the opportunity to refill his glass with beer, in an effort to hide a renewed blush, before turning his attention to the subsequent questions.  A move he might come to regret as a series of drinks followed.

Who hadn’t had a crush on a professor or upperclassman (or both)?  Drink.

Wasn’t he getting drunk and high right now?  Drink. 

Never pretended to be in a relationship?  Well, now.  He’d told his parents he was in a pretend relationship with a pretend Austrian girl only to be broken up by a pretend relationship with Neely that had, at some point, lost its pretend status.  He’d been a master at that long before his pretend-fling with Virgil.  Drink, drink and drink.

Typically, he had no idea how to interpret Fauna’s question.  He was certain he’d either pissed off and not pissed off a supervisor at some point.  So, for good measure, he followed it with a hesitant drink and a slight giggle as the chemicals started shoving more bits of cloud between his brain and skull. 

Sasha grinned at Abby’s story but refrained from offering his own as he took a drink.  The mystery was probably more interesting then reality: a midnight run to the bathroom with an accidentally locked door and a bashful trip to their dorm parent’s room to be let back in.  It was more amusing to leave everyone sitting and imagining what strange tales might have led to the drink. 

Nicholas’ question was predictably less tame then some of the previous and, yet, decidedly less informative.  After all, Sasha had yet to have a twosome.  Unless late night, long running and epically inappropriately games of D&D DMed by someone who was drunk counted.  Giggling at his own foolishness, Sasha pantomimed a fake drink (in honor of fake deeds) while Fauna offered a giggly comment and Abby briefly feigning to drink.  Virgil, alone, took an actual drink after a moment’s hesitation.  Ari finally punctuated the brief intermission with a "Nick, you're not fishing are you?!”

“Alright,” Sasha said, refilling his beer.  He pursed his lips, humming slightly without realizing it as he pondered what question to ask.  “Let’s see.  Never … have … I … ever,” he started, drawing out the question as he considered the options, bobbing his head with each word.  Then, hoping he sounded as nonchalant as he did in his own head, “questioned how much I love carrots.” 

Abby raised her eyebrows at Virgil's response to Nick's question, curious if he'd elaborate, but deciding not to pester him for more information. They were all friends here, right?

She giggled at Sasha's giggling, eyeing his half-empty beer.

When he offered up his question, it took her a moment. Abby lowered her drink, blinking at him.

Carrots? He'd never questioned how much he loved...

Carrots! That day with the horses. Her hair wasn't carrots. It was an inside joke. He was referencing that, wasn't he? Abby glanced around the room, noticing a few had taken a drink anyway.

By carrots, he meant her. Somehow.

A slow smile spread across her face. Locking gazes with him from across the room, she finished the rest of her fire whiskey, and set the glass down. As she stood, a warm, happy feeling that wasn't entirely the alcohol spread through her limbs, making her wobble as she walked over to where Sasha sat.

Abby knelt, giving him a mischievous smile.

His face! Before she could convince herself he meant something else, she leaned in...

His eyebrow arched curiously as she grinned at him.  He was relieved she seemed to have picked up on the inside joke, otherwise the question would have been just ... odd.  Well, it was still odd.  Just a more successful odd.  Which led to her leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

Without time to think, Sasha turned his head just in time to catch her kiss on the lips.[1]

Abby blinked. Her mouth twitched into another smile as she stared at him.

A surprised giggle escaped, and she touched her hand to her mouth. A kiss!

She stood again, using his shoulders for leverage, and wobbled on over to the kitchen, hoping to hide her sappy grin from view.

1.	Edit from Mai

For a brief moment, Sasha was distracted by the surprising number of party goers who had opted to drink in response to his question.  Perhaps, most had been pity drinks or simply an excuse to add more ethanol to their blood stream. 

But, that wonder had quickly faded into the background. 

Well, his attempt at placating Abby's concerns seemed to have succeeded while the attempt at subtlety had failed miserably.  In the best possible way, ever. 

And, now, Abby had escaped into the kitchen.  Sasha was simultaneously resisting a strong urge to follow Abby into the kitchen and to dash out into the hallway and jump around, laughing and yelling gleefully into the night like a kid on Christmas morning.  But, instead, he was still sitting by the coffee table, grinning broadly and chewing his lip with a beet-red face. 

"So."  He said, clearing his throat and refilling his beer before taking a very long drink, his hand shaking slightly from nerves, adrenaline and alcohol.  "Glad you all ... like Beta Carotene.  It's, you know, good for your eyes.  And ... it's ... so who's next?" 

Tia was having a good time, drunkenly trying to suss out all the post-Hogwarts drama tailing every question and answer in this game. It made her feel nostalgic about her own first year out of school - before she had gone and gotten herself bit by a werewolf. A time of a moonlit walks and skinny dipping and teasing laughter. But she'd had a lot to drink tonight so it was hard to tell who was sleeping with whom, or who wanted to sleep with each other.

When squib girl wobbled over to nerd boy and they exchanged shy kisses, Adrestia grinned. Okay so those two looked like a sure thing.

            "Glad you all ... like Beta Carotene.  It's, you know, good for your eyes.  And ... it's ... so who's next?"

Wait, what? Tia leaned into Fauna where they were both sat on the couch, shoulders and hips pressed into each other's. "Wait, so we were supposed to drink if we questioned carrots right??" she shook her head, blinking rapidly. "Never mind. I'M GOING NEXT." The werewolf sat a bit straighter, ready to finally phrase her ask. "Never ever have I wanted to date someone in this room," Adrestia finished her red wine.


Half an hour later

One of the redheads... Raine, right, the Auror trainee, was getting to her feet at the end of their drinking game - which had dissolved into just drinking, really, like at some point they just stopped asking questions and started chatting. But Tia was already near to nodding off against Fauna's shoulder and everyone else was flagging. It was getting super late even for a Saturday.

            "Sleeping arrangements!" Raine was saying, hands on hips and looking only slightly sober. "Living room is fair game. There's a fold out couch in the spare. Or anyone can split with Abby or me in our bedrooms," she stifled a yawn. "Not just anyone, you know what I mean."

Tia toasted an empty glass into the air. Yep, she knew what their hostess-in-command meant. Almasy left with a wave, feet dragging. Someone switched off one of the bright lamps in the room - a relief on their eyes. Adrestia tipped her head back to get a look at Fauna, next to her. "I'm lazy. I'm claiming this sofa. I'm queen of this sofa."

"I don't even know what carrots are!" Fauna said to Tia, though apparently carrots had something to do with Abby. The squib and Sasha shared a kiss, and Fauna, who didn't much care who was dating who, simply laughed to herself as Sasha stammered.

      "Never ever have I wanted to date someone in this room," Adrestia finished her red wine.

Fauna's eyes widened slightly at the question, then watched Tia finish her wine. Oh balls, why was this game so confusing? Was it drink if you did or drink if you didn't? Fauna accepted some blame for confusing people with her phrasing earlier, but now she really wanted to know. Very cautiously, still eying Tia, Fauna took a sip of her gin and tonic.

Later, as Tia was falling asleep against her shoulder and Fauna was happy to stay on the sofa indefinitely, Raine gave them their sleeping orders.

Abby piped up, "Not just anyone, you have to be handsome!" before laughing and heading to her room.

Tia commented about being queen of the sofa.

"Hm?" Fauna blinked blearily at her, looking into her warm brown eyes. "Oh right, I have to move," she chuckled.

"Well you know, we've been over your... queenship? Queenliness?" Fauna teased as she rose, resting a hand briefly on her shoulder. Were those words?

"No Virgils allowed," she tossed a smile across the room at the blond boy, meaning no offense.

She meandered over to one of the armchairs, picking a blanket and pillow off the floor as Moira claimed the other chair. Fauna plopped on the seat, and stretched her legs over the ottoman, yawning. As she slowly drifted asleep, Raine's cat, Maurice, butted against her feet on his way to Raine's room. Someone turned off another lamp. All felt right in the world.

The stars shined a little brighter over Hiraeth Gardens that night.

Moira didn't understand Sasha's question. She took a big drink anyway, finally finishing off her first glass of firewhiskey. She had been starting to sober up from earlier and wanted to rectify that.

Abby's response to Sasha's question, however, was something different from everyone else. It seemed there was some sort of hidden code that passed between them and the happy girl returned once again. Watching as Abby and Sasha shared a kiss Moira found herself smiling at them. The grin on Abby's face wasn't missed either before she turned away from everyone and went to the kitchen. Sasha was, of course, blushing. They were cute together.




The game continued for a while longer and whether the questions applied to her or not, she would randomly take a drink. Eventually she switched to water when she was decidedly drunk enough. Having too much of a hangover the next morning would not be enjoyable though the firewhiskey had helped relax the tension that had been building in her.

Everyone was beginning to fall asleep or show a lack of wakeful comprehension, Moira included. Had she been home she would have been asleep a couple hours ago at least to match her early morning work routine. Parties did not follow sleep schedules.

Sleeping spots were claimed one by one and quickly, Tia being the first with the couch. Moira took one of the arm chairs with a light blanket to cover her legs and lap. Leaning against the corner of the chair she tucked her feet under herself and watched silently as everyone else, except Sasha, settled into sleep. She followed suit not long after, exhaustion and alcohol pulling her into unconsciousness.