I see trouble on the way.

[lacquers]

Characters: Everyone! Yes, you too!
Summary: Mandy's Masquerade hosts a fantastic Halloween party with a costume contest, some very special cocktails, and a few other surprises.
Date(s): Late in the month of October.
Warnings/Notes: Please mark any threads that need content warnings.

Mandy's is looking a bit festive this evening. Arrayed with spiderwebs, pumpkins, and other ghoulish decorations, the interior resembles a spooky haunted house. Spooky, not scary! Everyone's invited to stop by and celebrate All Hallow's Eve with spirited drinks, excellent company, and a lot of that Magnus flair.

You can loosen up on the dance floor to Monster Mash, Thriller, Dead Man's Party, or maybe something from this list. The spooky sky's the limit! Visit the bar for one of several special drinks you won't soon forget. You can also sample some tasty and holiday-appropriate baked goods, courtesy of the other Mr. Lightwood-Bane. Finally, stop by the table with the MAGIC 8 BALL to learn a little more about your fellow partygoers.

---

Potions.
drink list

Siren Song
If you're a little tone-deaf, don't fret. This drink will turn you into a master at serenading. It won't actually give you the ability to influence anyone via magical means, but maybe if your song choice is apt, you'll woo someone either way!

Firework!
A drink that comes with a portable fireworks show hovering over its surface. Drinking it will give you the sensation of ingesting liquid pop-rocks.

Blacklight
Does what it says on the tin and makes the drinker glow under a black light. It's also kind of sour.

Frankenstein's Monster
This drink is quite shocking. Not dangerously so, but when you drink it, you'll have the impression of getting a tingling little jolt of electricity down your spine. It's aliiiiive.

To Be or Not To Be (A Daemon)
Drink this and you will find you've been magically swapped with your daemon. It only lasts ten minutes, but hey! You'll get to see how the other half lives. A note: you won't inherit one another's abilities!

---

Who Wore It Best?
costume contest

Congratulations to our costume contest winners!

In first place for individual costumes...

Rafa wins for his devilish costume and he'll be awarded 2 potions: the first of which will up his luck stat, granting him good fortune in an endeavor (it says "Deal with the Devil" on the bottle) and the second will up his persuasion stat, helping him to be more successful in an argument (it says "The Devil's Advocate" on the bottle).

In second place for individual costumes...

Nico plunders the second place spot and will be given a treasure chest full of chocolates that are rum flavored. Careful, they pack a bit of a punch and when consumed, they'll make whoever eats them feel especially happy. No sad drunks here!

In third place for individual costumes...

Zeke and his amazingly sunny costume are in third and he wins a sunflower plant that will never cease to bloom and seems to have a bit of a glow about it. Plus, perpetual supply of sunflower seeds?

In first place for couples costumes...

Magnus and Alec came first for their portrayal of... each other... and they win a pair of seemingly mundane t-shirts that say "Bennet" and "Darcy" on them. What's that about?

In second place for couples costumes...

Vex and Kenzi delighted with their take on the Addams' family patriarch and matriarch and won second place. As a prize, Kenzi will be given a shampoo and conditioner set that seems pretty innocuous until you check out the writing on the bottles: 'Have YOU ever wanted hair like Cousin Itt? Are you ever in luck!' Just a small amount will make her locks lustrous and smooth. Vex will be given a very lifelike and animated hand in a box.

In third place for couples costumes...

Rose and Kaz were drop dead gorgeous in their mafia-inspired garb. As prizes, they will receive the following: for Rose, a pair of magical die that make music when thrown, and for Kaz, a set of playing cards that are intricately illustrated with astonishing art that seems to move. Watch out for the face cards, they get very opinionated about your playing. They both also receive a chip that can be relinquished to Magnus for a small magical favor.

Comments

[upside]

It's challenge plenty.

( this is important for her to say, because juno is absolutely her strong fighting lady, and shepard would shoot herself straight in the foot before she'd dare underestimate him, or anyone for that matter.

anyway.

hopping up with juno's agreement, she thumps the back of her hand on juno's shoulder before directing him to an empty table for the challenge in question, clearing it of empty glasses and questionable puddles of liquid. )

Violence against animals! I raised you better than this, didn't I. ( daughter confirmed. taking a seat, shep maintains the proper arm wrestling stance, elbow on the table, hand eagerly awaiting juno's. one brows raises in his direction, encouraging. ) I'm going to get so many pictures of you in this onesie. ( this is the worst trash talk ever )

[dothelokimotion]

Nothing, as far as I know, is indestructible.

[ Even the Hulk, Loki is sure, has some Achilles' heel. He makes a note of Eudio — he has heard it before in other conversations, but he did not know what to make of it. Or another him wandering around, making friends. Distasteful. ]

I merely have a higher tolerance than most.

[ He assumes. The joys of unknown parentage. Half is from Jotunheim. The other? Who knows. Certainly not Loki. If Odin knew, he would only say so if there was a way to draw use from Loki. ]

[bratpack]

[ Wyatt gives him a triumphant grin, and tugs him out onto the dance floor. Honestly, it's not like Wyatt is any great shakes at all this. He's no world class dancer. But he more or less moves in time with the music, and he has plenty of enthusiasm to make up for what's lacking in skill. He keeps Juno's hand, and puts his other hand on his waist. Then he smiles, clearly pleased. ]

See? It's not so bad right?

[ He inserts some gentle spinning into their routine. ]

So. What's your name, wallflower guy?

[bratpack]

[ Wyatt leans up again, hands spread. ]

I am an expert.

[ So, now what. Now, awkwardness reigns? He covers that by grabbing a drink from the bar. ]

So, um. You come here with anyone tonight?

[dothelokimotion]

I would deem it so. For us, both studies grow from each other. We do not place them in separate categories.

[ Even magic is seen as derogatory, unfit for warriors, it is still very much practiced. Only a fool would look Eir and Frigga in the eye and claim their work to be unseemly. But Loki also knew that behind closed doors, magic was not well thought of. Certainly, Asgard benefited from it, but they would call Frigga a witch and Loki, with his blend of magic and fighting, never quite fit in.

Though perhaps, that was doomed from the start. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki grimaces slightly, though it is not from annoyance or some flaw. ]

It is very sweet. Far sweeter than some foods I have tasted.

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki mulls on this with unnatural seriousness. ]

I suppose there is no harm to it.

[miss_brilliant]

[Amanda's actually been trying not to think about that too much--that, strangely, this place might be better for her than even Eudio was, in some ways. Eudio fixed her body, but here she really has things to do that feel like they might matter in a big way]

Yeah, I guess it does. I actually really hate that 'when one door closes' kind of stuff, but I guess that's sort of the only way I've kept going sometimes.

[she recognizes her probably not always healthy ways of coping for what they are, and really doesn't see much point in picking at them when they've worked]

I don't know. I guess this [she gestures vaguely at her legs] has finally stopped seeming like something I'm going to lose. And the kid I was back then would be really ticked off if all I did was make someone's robot stop recording them without permission. Which is still cool, but it's not the kind of thing I thought about when I was watching shuttle launches.

[she pauses, fidgeting with the leather on one leg for a moment] The persona I had back there wore leather and things like that all the time. She was...cool. Also kind of bitchy but I can get whre that came from. It was kind of what I guess I would have been like if I hadn't decided to mostly tune out what people said about me. And she...knew she was attractive. I guess that's still hanging around a little. [she still has trouble seeing her that way, because she's not seeing it reflected in someone else's eyes in a way that matters, but maybe faking it will make it at some point]

[servomotor]

That sounds chronological, [Tony observes, in between thoroughly chewed and swallowed mouthfuls. His fork clatters companionably against the plate. It's good to have an appetite again, even if it's in good part because he's drunk away his ability to worry much about anything else. It'll serve him in good stead, when he runs into Steve at only half capacity for neuroticism at seeing the dead come back to life.]

My guess is Mesozoic. Or does that mean something else in your language?

[Scrape scrape. More icing. He likes this stuff. Like Mama made it, or how one imagines she would have, if she hadn't been doing other things for the Stark household.]

b.

[bangitybang]

You're adorable, [says janus, and it's true and they mean it, but the smile keeps sloughing off their face like shed skin off a rattlesnake. rattlesnake in reverse. forced good mood feels unpleasant, kind of like being itchy, but janus would rather keep this shitty, ragged facade on them than get rid of it, because #deception is how one does when one is in a mood full of doubts and rue about things they aren't sure they have the right to feel. the alcohol has been helping, but not enough.

secret background context: ezekiel's been talking about being in love with them for months, but making out with, boning everything that moves for survival, and tonight they're sucking face with some stranger who had janus' old face, which janus misses, from time to time. as a couple, janus and ezekiel had always been doomed from the start, which was why janus had been honest about their lack of true romantic reciprocity and prudent about setting a couple boundaries. but all signs pointed to that those boundaries were quite fucked, which was obvious !! from the beginning, you shouldn't move in with a handsome man just because you saved them once and they have feelings for you-- and yet.

people are confusing.]

Dance with me please, adorable hamster genderqueer, [they say. they fling their arms about juno's hamster suit shoulders and begin to sway, slightly off-balance but sort of rhythmically.] Thank you, I appreciate it.

[shadowblends]

[Pretty good speculation there, Loki.]

Not at all.

[shadowblends]

[Normally, Kurt might continue to politely decline Wyatt's offer, but how in the world could anyone resist that face?]

Well ...

[His own expression softens, dark eyebrows knitting together in contemplation. Then, with a decent amount of tentativeness, he reaches a tri-fingered hand up and takes hold of the other male's to aid in bringing himself further out onto the dance floor.

To draw attention away from his peculiar limbs, he playfully wrinkles his nose, the heart-shaped end of his tail twitching in the same manner.] As long as you promise.

hooover for (google) translation

[shadowblends]

Do you know any Italian, then? That'd be interesting to learn.

[Squints, his nose wrinkling in thought before--] Tale sonat?

[shadowblends]

[Record scratch--] Teach you?

[The song continues without him, leaving him standing there with his arms up, scarf draped delicately between both hands.] Well, ah— [Not that he can't teach Sidon; he's just never thought about doing such a thing with someone who wasn't performing. To be fair, though, he and the fish-man could be interesting dance partners, regardless of their height differences.

He flashes a fang-filled grin and twists his limbs, bringing the fabric down to glide across the naked part of his torso.] I think I can do that.

[shadowblends]

Anyone can wear them! They come in different sizes. On parachutes, they keep you secured, so you don't fall and break anything.

[Cue his eyebrows hiking up in utter shock.] What happens if you let go too high?

[dothelokimotion]

[ Loki tilts his head, a curious light in his eyes. ]

A mutation then. I imagine there are more like yourself?

[hasitsthorns]

Thing is? I was like that before I met any mortals. [ She gives a casual shrug, an air of detachment from the reality of the fact: ] A defective make, I guess.

[hasitsthorns]

... I guess that's true. It's one thing to have to deal with an annoying sibling for, like, maybe a couple decades. Another for centuries.

You guys close, or-?

[ Or is that broaching potentially dangerous territory. ]

[hasitsthorns]

I never even had a proper relationship before now, so. You still got me beat.

[ Roxanne and her were never 'official.' She'll refer to her as her girlfriend these days, but at the time... It'd just been fun to have each other. To have something to hold onto. ]

I'm glad though that you can, y'know, figure all that out. I'm still learning a lot about myself too. You'd think after all these years I'd have a better idea but. Eh.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Honestly? Rose isn't sure herself. She basically invited him over to netflix and chill and then they just... actually netflixed and chilled.

It was a strange time for Rose. ]

I mean, yeah, but counter-point. Have you seen me? What else could rightfully be on his mind?

[ She's only half-joking. Rose doesn't have enough confidence yet to take herself quite so seriously. ]

[hasitsthorns]

[ 'An act of passion' is not a way Rose has heard revenge described before, but... She supposes that's true. In a sense.

Charlie had seemed pretty passionate about purging humanity. ]

So, boom! There you go. What about you, dude? Who'd you be stuck with?

[hasitsthorns]

[ It's only awkward if you make it awkward, Wyatt. (This is a lie that Rose subscribes to often.)

But she seems to straighten up just a little at his question. Interest detected? Probably not, but Rose is easy enough to place that even the possibility has her perking up. ]

Well, I have my costume buddy, but we aren't together. [ Even if she is tryin'. Wyatt doesn't need to know that though. ]

Otherwise, no. I'm free as can be. What about you? Got a hot date tonight? Pun absolutely intended, by the way.

[dothelokimotion]

You seem strangely at ease with that.

[ Or that's just Loki. Constantly out of sorts, constantly feeling an itch under his skin. ]

[dothelokimotion]

We were.

[ And the finality in his tone, while not dangerous or even sharp, leaves no more room for discussion. ]

[monologue]

[ juno makes a noise when shepard thumps him on the back, something halfway between a grunt and a forced laugh as he watches her clear off a table for the both of them. there's regret sitting somewhere in the pit of his stomach, but it's so far underneath the determination to not wear that goddamn costume and juno's general stubbornness that he slips right off the bar and makes his way over, pulling up a seat. ]

I'd say the only crime here is you wearing the skin of that poor, deflated-looking hamster like a goddamn trophy.

[ juno flexes his fingers a little bit and

awfuck this is gonna be bad, shepard's shredded.

but he takes her hand anyways, eyes set firmly. ]

Anyways, the only pictures you're gonna have are of the charred remains of that damn suit. Maybe you can toast some marshmallows or something over it to cheer yourself up.