Sharing the Holiday Spirit...and Spirits

[Landon Beauchard]

This was pretty strange. His sister was off abroad in Tresteria, and somehow still managed to make Yule awkward. She was even dopier than he'd thought, apparently. But hey, she clearly had at least some idea what he liked, because she'd included a bottle of wine in the package she sent him. It had arrived a bit after Yule, but that was fine by him.

Still, it was a bit tacky to drink a whole bottle of wine by yourself, even if it was a Yule gift from your sniveling baby sister, so he needed someone to share it with. And that meant going off to bother Jonah Aldridge.

Landon was a perfect gentleman to the servants...or at least, mostly, until he winked at the new maid and made her giggle. The butler didn't find that too funny, but Landon schooled himself back to a serious face just before the man turned a suspicious eye on him. Landon just blinked those baby blues innocently at him, as if he hadn't the faintest idea what was going on. The maid was so overcome by giggles she had to excuse herself, which left him smirking.

The butler said something dry about how he seemed to be making himself at home, and Landon smiled. "Of course, Addams. Jonah and I are practically brothers."

The old man sniffed and left him there as he went off to fetch the 'young master.'

Landon paced around the foyer and was just poking at one of the decorative little angels on the mantelpiece when he heard footsteps and turned to beam at his friend, holding up the bottle of wine.

"A belated happy Yule to you, Jo. Came to share some holiday spirits."

[Jonah Aldridge]

Things had been far too quiet surrounding the Aldridge family, especially around Yule. It had been disappointing, really. Or perhaps it was just that everyone seemed too busy this year, and he hadn’t scored any ladies as of late. Was he losing his touch?

In his pastime, he liked to wander the halls of Rosetone House and rearrange things, hide things, move things around--just to see how long it would take before someone would notice. So when one of the servants suddenly appeared, catching him red-handed in the act of placing the helmet of a knight’s armor statue on the wall-mounted bear’s head.

“Ahem.”

He heard the voice behind him and he nearly fell backward off the chair he stood on, startled by being caught. He turned and plopped down in the chair, a wide grin forming on his lips as he folded his arms over his chest, acting innocent. “Yes?”

Had it been one of the younger maids, she may have laughed and excused his behavior. Instead, it was the crotchety old housekeeper who might as well retire soon. She scoffed and pointed at the wall-mounted beer and shook her head. “Master Aldridge! Fix that immediately!”

Jonah stood up and gave her a perplexed look. “Fix what? It was like that.” He shrugged nonchalantly. The woman let out an exasperated sigh and gave him a stern look. “Lord Beauchard is here to see you.”

He grinned and nodded. “Thank you.” And before the woman could scold him any further about his rearrangement, he booked it out of the room and made his way to the main foyer. Landon was already greeting him before he had a chance to, holding up a bottle of wine.

A wide smirk played upon his lips, arms opening as if indicating that he was present and very much here for whatever fun would unfold between the two friends. “Happy Yule, good man!” He playfully bowed and let out a laugh. “Some holiday spirits, hmm? What do you got there?”

Landon was about one of the only people that knew Jonah’s love and taste for alcohol. He was constantly trying to brew his own concoctions and hoped to one day create something that would be served at every bar in all of the Elysium isles. But he certainly still loved to drink things that he didn't have to work for himself.

[Landon Beauchard]

"Tresterian wine, from some vineyard out there. Vignoble Ciel. The crybaby sent it, and I thought I'd share." He waved the bottle at his friend. "You'll have to tell me if it's any good. I can tell good wine from terrible wine, no problem, but that's as far as I get. You're the one who actually notices a difference."

The servants were still hovering in the doorway looking irritated with them, and Landon made a face at them. The housekeeper and butler both looked offended and skittered off, probably to complain to the rest of them about "that Beauchard boy." Ah well, let them talk. It wasn't as if they could really stop their master's son from talking to whomever he liked. Their job was to keep track of the house and meet needs, not to judge everyone in it.

"You wanna take it out on the grounds somewhere? Weather's not bad, and that way we have less of an audience."

He was already moving toward the door, assuming Jonah would agree with him.

[Jonah Aldridge]

Landon was probably right-- he did have a good taste for different types of alcohol. Of course, it was easy to decipher good from bad, but Jonah seemed to have some sort of skill in determining differences and what ingredients existed in the bottles. He loved to find and try out different combinations, so he was always willing to try anything.

Jonah smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “You are probably right. And I will never say no to a bottle of wine.  Even if it's from a crybaby sister.” He laughed, turning around to spot the servants still standing there and then scurry off. He made a face as he turned back to Landon as if to say ‘what’s with them?’ even though he knew they were highly annoyed by his friend and didn’t particularly like that he hung out around here.

At Landon’s suggestion, he laughed again and nodded. “It’s not as fun without an audience, but I suppose so.” He followed his friend towards the door and stepped out of the manor, wondering if he had an idea of where he wanted to go drink the day away today.