Halloween 2016

[Star]

"Those were, like, the first names I thought of!"

He's not defensive. Mostly, because he's imagining the rest of the evening. Surrounded by three women in the throes of surrendering to their physical needs.

Translation: holding their hair out of the toilet while they're vomiting.

And then blue-blue eyes widen as Fisher and Tuesday are grabbing at each other and he's staring at them and it's awfully warm and then watching Avis flailing and sure her eyes were up there but down there isn't a baggy hoodie for once and that's where his hands wanted to be wanted to be wanted to be were going and Tuesday's yelling about Brontes and penis clubs and the beat goes on and on and on...

"What!"

He freezes like a Threat in a Museum deer in headlights when Faye and Campanella appear. Whoah. Where did they come from?

"Uh, uh. Uh. Sure?"

Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat.

[West]

One week to go!

[Morgan Bellanar]

After a moment Morgan blinked in confusion, then blushed as she smacked herself in the forehead. Smiling sheepishly, she turned to L'Aire: "Sorry, heh, Sasha. Meant to say laird, ye ken for ye heh owning the bar? Meh-heh, speech therapy still progresses, heh,"she then loudly sighs, "Twas doing so well, heh, still better then [stutter stutter]," she took in a deep breath before continuing, "I heh used to do, heh."

She then looked back to Mhairi and gave her a thumbs up, "And bountiful thine work twas, heh. Ye ken, both for bossing me and on ye finding such attire, heh. Ye hath the figure for it. And art great at the former too, heh-heh."

She then turned to Asa, "And I ken Sasha through my heh overseer," she motioned with her free hand towards Mhairi.

[Asa]

"Ah."

The truth was, Asa had no idea what Morgan was saying. The word salad washed over him like a neonate spouting Ye Olde English or claiming they hadn't tasted good Blood since the Holy Crusades. Eyes moved from Mhairi to L'aire with a silent flame of a question that slowly burned out to the cinders of disinterest as the conversation continued in the middle of the dance floor.

His charming smile remained, though, but his mind was already wandering over the interesting names that had been spoken. He toyed with the similarity of their sounds, wondering if they had some connection or meaning like something of the Invictus or Ordo Dracul. To be sure -- they were odd -- but it was the 'air' that existed in both that suggested the connection.

It was how he kept himself from banishing Morgan's presence like said neonate.

"Sasha, Starfire." He smiled, deliberately using the names they'd offered. Just as he refrained from suggesting he'd see Sasha at the nightclub she'd never volunteered before. "Thank you both so much for dancing with me, but I don't want to keep the three of you from this... reunion."

He wanted to touch each again, to run his fingers over bare skin that burned with the warmth of the living but did not. The play had come to a close.

He gave in.

He lifted each hand in turn, giving it Ye Old Fashioned kiss that hid a flicker of his tongue, and then nodded to the trio and left.

With five days to Scene end, unless stopped Asa exits.

[Avis]

Holy shit, now there was boob grabbing, and laughing, and a dance floor that seemed to swim all about them, and Star moving next to her, and pressing her, and then fucking Faye popped up out of nowhere.

"Fuuuuck," Avis swore, her least liked person in the city suddenly trying to join in on the fun.

"No! Boooo, go pretend to be someone people care about somewhere else!" she yelled, reaching out to tug on her Cabalmate's arms and pull them further onto the dance floor, or anywhere away from goddamn Consilium politics, super hot not-supermodel blondes, and a guy who's face made her think of sterilized walls.

Continuity wise, this is before the Faye-Avis peace talks, also alcohol soooo...

[Mhairi Ankaa]

Morgan was acting as if the night was still young! Like she didn't know what she was doing with her nattering and generally adorable self! Mhairi thought only Elementals could be this obtuse!

Maybe Mhairi could still salvage this! Yes! Think positive! Shoo away Morgan, and - Asa breathes out.

He says his farewells, and as much as Mhairi flushes at the manner which he made those farewells, she still needs to swallows her disappointment. Her eyes falling closed and she breathes in, stopping herself from chiding her Paladin. It really wasn't steepscrambler's fault. She probably thought they were all just friends, and that they were dancing, and that the dancing wasn't a prelude to anything.

It was then, that a delightful idea sprang to mind.

Their chance meeting, the opening act. Her dancing with L'aire the raising action, Asa inclusion, the conflict...Morgan the plot twist instead of being what Asa needed to declare this chapter done.

The curtain hadn't yet fallen....Mhairi could still see Asa as he moved his way through the crowd.

Casting a swift look at the Winter Queen, then back at Asa's retreating form, surly L'aire will understand, but Morgan...."See you at the Luncheon." Mhairi says, then quickly makes her way through the crowd. Ducking and weaving in ways she hadn't in a very long time. Frowning because there was a commotion about boobs and booing...? Mhairi didn't understand, but whatever it was it quickly left Mhairi's mind as she'd finally caught up to the man.

"I can see them later." she says in a blurt, eyes bright, and chest heaving.

[Campanella]

Campanella, arm entwined with Faye, can only watch with surprise on his face when Avis appears to degenerate into a teenage girl and literally drag her Cabal off into the depths of the dance floor.

Away from them.

"Was it something I said?" He commented, the sudden shock quickly masked into wry humour. "I really didn't know they were all quite so... intimate? Or perhaps maybe its the drink?"

He turned to his riveting partner with a raised eyebrow.

[Malcolm Green]

Green was barely listening as this made up thing droned on about who was who, and who was making some kind of statement by forming their own little court down below, on the lower level. The made up thing paused and Green barely caught it, but managed to mutter something appropriate and most importantly, nod.

He was finding that nodding seemed the best course of action.

Under the weight of his Contracts, his Mask and the cheap domino mask that obscured even those features, Malcolm Green was seething with boredom.

This was how he envisioned the courts of distant, hated, Arcadia to be. They were all so vapid, so shallow and so hollow. Papier-mache fabrications of people. Somehow, he managed to extricate himself and made for the bar. Distressingly, even that was packed with more Lestat wannabe's: their prattle grated, he was seeing signs in the whirling flashes of the cocktail mixers.

And the soul brew the papier-mache people gave off? Weak. Insipid. Bitter and light all at the same time. They were all actors playing out a scene and he didn't know the script.

Stuff it! What a waste!

The man in the mask left as quietly as he had come.

Green exits the scene

[Aurora]

Blue eyes narrow, and there was the count down in her head, calming herself before addressing Campanella. If Avis wanted to act like a brat in grade school, so be it. The Enchantress wasn’t about to stoop to her level, and certainly not in such a public place. It could be addressed later, in private.

She put a smile back on her lips before turning to him, “Nah, it seems to be a thing against me, sorry about that. But, no worries! This will not damper the evening and we can still continue our awesome time!” her eyes sparkled with excitement, Nope, childish behavior would not stop her fun.

“What do you say? Wan to grab another drink and take another swing around the dance floor? Or maybe grab some coffee or something?” he was still new in town to her, so it’d be fun to get to know him.