December 17th, 1891 - Christmas Party
Alice Dawson

After thoroughly annoying her brother, Sloane rather thought she might try and find Hatch to hoist her presence upon him as well, but she couldn't quite seem to locate him. Or Ned. Or Sisse. Where was everybody hiding? Had Ned or Sisse even been invited? She had heard through the grapevine that prefects didn't exactly get invited to things? Not unreasonable, but not as much fun without them...

"Alice!" She greeted her friend cheerfully not completely unlike how she'd managed to harass her brother earlier. She was now a glass and a half of punch in and was rather starting to think it wasn't just punch... "Have you tried this? It's pretty tasty. Are you having a good time? Have you seen Lester?" Why was she asking so many questions?

"Sorry, I think this is spiked and I should probably put it down." Sloane casually put her glass off to the side on a nearby table and was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Right, so, having fun?" She managed a little less maniacally, even though she knew her hair was turning pink at the ends without her trying.

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Unsurprisingly, Alice felt horribly out of place tonight. She had never been one for parties to begin with and attending one for primarily for the upperclassmen was bizarre. It was almost as though they would soon all be adults with responsibilities and were no longer the baby faced children they once were. The thought frightened her into taking another sip of her spiked punch.

She was contemplating making a quiet escape when Sloane found her once more. "Maybe have some pumpkin juice instead," Alice suggested. Sloane was well beyond tipsy it seemed, which was a promise that tomorrow morning would be a challenge. "Lester was by the sofa of there a short while ago. I saw Cameron over there too, I think." It was Sisse Alice had lost complete track of. Merlin, this party was massive. "It's definitely a lively party."

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Amazing set by Bee!

"Probably a good idea, it's over there, right?" Sloane pulled Alice with her toward the refreshments table, which was in fact the opposite direction from where she had mentioned Hatch and Cam. Something told her neither would make her good company tonight

Something without alcohol in it would help clear her mind. Maybe she would find a snack. Maybe it was time to go back to the common room at this point. Sloane dragged Alice along behind her moving toward the wall to scoot around the back of the refreshments when she found she could not take another step.

"What the hell?" She said looking around to see if she'd stepped something or what.

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Alice nearly corrected Sloane's direction but immediately became preoccupied by the sudden paralyzed nature of her feet. She stared down at her shoes and struggled to lift her feet, waging a losing war against whatever sticking charm held her in place.

"It has to be a prank of some kind," she told Sloane. One of the boys maybe? Edison wasn't here, but maybe Cameron was drunk enough to forget how awkward things were now.

Then, Alice looked above her to see the sprig of mistletoe and her face grew hotter than the fireplaces heating the room.

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Amazing set by Bee!

Wobbling in her feet, Sloane held onto Alice for balance, giggling as she too continued to look around for whatever it was that had them such a sticky spot.

She followed her friend's upward look and find the mistletoe. "Oh! Easy fix!" She cheered, entirely nonplussed by what the implications or repercussions might be. The booze certainly helped.

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To Alice's knowledge, the only way to escape the enchanted mistletoe was to kiss. And, well, ladies weren't meant to kiss one another, were they? It was a sin, her mother once said. Morally wrong and shameful. Sloane and she couldn't kiss, right?

But, how else would they escape this situation? It wasn't as though there were any professors around to help them, which meant they had to bear it for long enough to disarm the mistletoe. "Right, easy fix." Alice repeated, though she made no move to close the distance between them.

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Amazing set by Bee!

Unfortunately oblivious to Alice's discomfort, Sloane was equally as nonplussed by the thought of kissing her friend. It was just a quick peck, entirely unlike the kind she shared with Cameron in the past. A long while ago it felt like now.

"Quick and easy, I'm quite good at it." She announced with confidence, another giggle escaping. At least she assumed she wasn't terrible at it. Cam had never complained? Maybe she was out of practice though, that was a somewhat sobering thought. It really had been a long while... "I think anyway." She added with a bit of a comical pout.

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Oh Merlin.

Any talent Sloane had for kissing had to come from her experience with Cameron. (Where was he?! Why wasn't he interrupting this so that he could kiss Sloane under the mistletoe?!) Her cheeks were flaming as red as her hair as she stared down the few inches at Sloane. A quick peck, as meaningless as kissing one's sister.

Oh Merlin.

"Alright," she consented, though she continued to remain frozen in place.

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Amazing set by Bee!

Well at least Alice wasn't completely repulsed by the idea of it. Not that Sloane supposed she could blame her. Girls weren't exactly supposed to kiss, were they? It was an interesting concept, but she wasn't sure very normal. Intrigued, but not drunk enough to actually put that into words, she chuckled at her friend. Alice looked as though she was steeling herself for something unpleasant.

At least Alice wasn't nearly as tall as Cameron, that certainly made things easier. Casting a quick glance around the room, it thankfully appeared so though nobody was really staring at them, so a quick peck would probably go unnoticed. Not to mention if anyone said something, they had the perfectly reasonable excuse of the mistletoe to support their mishap.

Best to be quick about it then. Just drunk enough that she forgot this wasn't supposed to be some intimate thing, she touched Alice's cheek with one hand and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. The pressure was probably more than was necessary, but it took her a solid ten seconds to realize she could now step back and quickly did so as the heat rose to her cheeks. "See! Quick and easy!" She giggled to cover up any residual awkwardness.

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All too suddenly Sloane was standing even closer than before and then they were kissing. Alice's hand instinctively landed lightly on her waist to steady them both and her eyes fluttered shut. It was as though nothing else around them existed for those brief seconds, and then everything came rushing back at once.

Alice withdrew from Sloane completely, her hands falling back to her sides and her eyes wide with both surprise and fear. "Quick and easy," she squeaked out. Girls weren't supposed to kiss one another, right?! Oh Merlin, could they be expelled now?! With every instinct screaming at her to flee, Alice offered a quick wave and nervously managed, "I'm going to go, bye!"

And with that, she turned abruptly on her heels and speed walked towards the singular exit.

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Amazing set by Bee!