Penance would've liked to have done this earlier, to coincide with the actual start of the lunar new year. Even given how the holiday usually stretched out for a few days, this would still probably be a bit late for the festivities, which may not bode well for the future. However, by time Penance had realized that Chinese New Year was coming up and then later that she might want to actually do something with it, it was kinda already upon them. And then there was gathering all the decorations and supplies for a good evening, because while she certainly could just invite some people over and start from there, she felt she should put a little more effort into making this look ni- ...decent.
It was after hours in Funderland and Edna's had now grown a few more features. Red paper lanterns hung from the corners of the house and red tinsel hung from the eaves of the house. Kinda made a bit of contrast when by day this place was supposed to look spooky. Inside it was much the same, with smaller paper lanterns hung from the ceiling and apparently the rest of the tinsel the Ogre had bought because it looked like something had barfed it up onto some of the surfaces. Cartoon pigs sat on many empty counters, none of them matching. The price of doing things late was having to pick through everybody else's scraps. On the overly large, oaken dining room table sat a large pot simmering over a bunsen burner, the smell of broth wafting out of it. Surrounding it was some cuts of beef, chicken, pork, fish, and some dumplings. None of it was particularly high quality, but she had to have a hot pot for this, she just had to. In the kitchen sat several liter bottles of soda in all the most popular flavors. She would've preferred alcohol, but that was several degrees pricier and buying all that meat had kinda already did a number on her budget.
She had made this an open invite to everyone in the Freehold if they wished to come, though she had sent personal invitations to couple choice people. Circe was invited as Penance considered her probably her best friend and felt she could liven things up. Besides, she had to repay here for that night she tried teaching her more about pop culture. @Sunnie Wu be cause she figured there was some kinship between them and she might appreciate a more traditional lunar new year, if she hadn't already celebrated it herself. And Rhodes because this was his property and she kinda needed his approval before she did all this. Anybody else who came was just bonus. Heck, even if only one person came, she'd be fine with that, she understood people could get busy and didn't have time for last minute plans. ...You know what, she'd be fine if NOBODY came, then she'd just have all this food for herself... though she did hope some people came.
For this minor get-together, Penance had elected for something a little... outside her usual style. She had adopted a bright red qipao that went down to her knees for today and combed her hair back into a ponytail (she really didn't have enough to do a bun). It probably would've matched well with her skin color... had she not chosen to hide her Fae Mien tonight. She was trying to be social, she never liked wearing her real face when she was trying to be friendly. Usually she avoided traditional dresses like this, her generation had kinda been all about rejecting tradition. But she was going out of her way to celebrate her New Year celebration despite being as far west as she could go, she figured she could nod to her heritage this once.
Penance stood wait by the doorway now, waiting to see if anyone showed.