xistentia | I see trouble on the way.

Entry tags:

I see trouble on the way.

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.

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[ man, the reactions are pretty novel. it's different from hyperion, different in a way that makes him want to laugh more than take offense.

juno will give him that anyways - the recovery is smooth, but he looks young, so he's got a long way to go. he makes up for the misstep with his own, moving easily and finding himself almost... well, sad for remembering how this kind of dance goes between two people. comforting. easy. nice. ]

Mars is still pretty irradiated - the city I'm from is one of the first colonies Earth built on it, Hyperion. [ a slight adjustment to the hand, closer. maybe he means it. ] We've got lasers? Uhh... cloned meat? It's not really that fancy. Shuttles? Lots of desert? What were you expecting from space, exactly?

I think that makes you the enemy of my less-obvious alter-ego, [Tony Stark observes, after a moment.] Playboy millionaire philanthropist. My generosity comes with the fine print. This part where I, like, totally sold out. [They're both being wry. An edge of irony to his voice. If he had any room for guilt left over, after costing American soldiers hundreds of lives with hardware sold to their enemies, he would feel guilty about that. As it is, life's too short. Even his. He's giving back, some ways.

Swizz swizz. His mechanical plod takes him back to the open doors of her bathroom stall. He tilts his robot head. His mask is still off, though, held in one hand. The other, he offers her.]

Lift home?

Kavinsky.

[his smile is as sly as a fox's.]

I like lean string beans as well, [they agree heartily.] To eat, as well as for the people who are built like them. But sometimes I wonder if that wasn't Jay's real problem, after all. Maybe if he looked the way I do now, he'd want to be smaller and thinner. I suspect some people aren't happy with what they have because of what's happened to them, more than what's there.

[bwomp. janus feels the tap of impact on their forehead, and then they feel their eyes crinkle, their eyelashes pulling in tingling protest to nearly tangling with the ones framing juno's pretty dark eyes.

but don't get janus wrong. for all they're looking at him, it's not that they aren't listening to him talk at the same time. they like the stories he's telling. well, maybe they aren't stories, not full ones— the groundwork for stories, that he's laying out in impressionistic sweeps, the setup, the backdrop, the hook, the intimation of genre that promises that the plots are the sort that belong with synopses on glossy paperback, long and sordid movies made out of them. the kind of glory that has a fistful of grit rubbed into it, the immensity of the success achieved, the justice served, proportionate only to the awful sacrifice made.

janus wonders if any of his scars are new. they wonder if there are moments that juno doubts that the way things ended with the nameless stranger from his memory share— the nearest to the real story that janus has come so far-- was as necessary as he'd thought. they wonder if juno would have been more comfortable under martian blacklights, or in the pulsing rhapsody of smoke-choked future-music, if he'd been wearing a hamster costume.

anyhow.

that's just a lot of words to say, janus isn't thinking about anything in particular, when they kiss him.]

[ juno's leaning into a word when their mouth presses into his. it isn't the abrupt, unwanted movie cut-off that ends in a muffled sound, nor is it something he'd been anticipating. but god it's warm, or maybe that's just juno feeling warm, his fingers curling where they are: draped over janus' shoulder, clutched a little in the fabric of their clothing as his steps halt a little. he catches their eyes in the light before closing his eyes into the kiss, and they're... maybe really nice under this light. the kind he could fall into.

now, there's only one plausible explanation for this, and it's clearly that janus is a dream. thinking they're a pure figment of the imagination is the easiest place juno goes: janus is... a pleasant dream, an interesting dream, one he wants to hold onto. after all, kisses clearly only happen when a dream ends, right? a punctuation mark on something unreal.

but that isn't to say it doesn't feel good, and for the breath it takes the kiss to make it from point a to point b, juno lingers in the present for once. he's caught so off guard he's not sure what to do but ride it out until its end, eyes blinking sharply a few times. he presses his lips together, as if trying to tattoo the sensation on his mouth. what a kiss feels like, sliding over his lips, his throat, his shoulders, a flush that goes dark and makes him body-hot. ]

Wh -

[ he clears his throat a little, but his voice still errs on the side of hoarse, hand sliding back to rest softly on the side of their neck. his thumb touches their jawline just barely. ]

Told you, it's... not really any different.

Right in one. [He answers, grinning. It was pretty clever, if he does say so himself.]

He had to be trapped before he'd settle down and listen, but once I got him there... no, not too much. It helped that he'd lost some respect for Alduin -the one I was searching for- in the interim.

I suppose there is, at that. [He picks up on those implied compliments, sir, and smiles winsomely. The mention of a title piques his curiosity, though.] Lord Commander? Of what, if I may ask?

[ Now isn't that insightful. It actually gives Rose, in her tipsiness, a brief pause. ]

I guess that's pretty true. Never thought about it like that, but- It makes a lot of sense. Are you happy with all that you have, even with what's happened to you?

[ Changing faces and all that. ]

[ dancing shoes, huh. alec has no complaints, actually. dancing makes him feel less and less awkward the more he tries it, and he likes it best with magnus, in the privacy of their home, where he can look ridiculous all he wants and not feel an ounce of being self-conscious. ]

Oh, so this is gonna turn into dancing lessons?

[it had been— nice. if nice is the term for it, when you don't particularly like candy, but had enjoyed sucking on the soft, mobile tip of someone's tongue as if it were just as sweet, drinking the melt, careful not to use teeth but finding a rhythm in a different way, the pull of their mouth and shift of hands on the hamster suit.

afterward, they're smiling. listening to the damp new catch in juno's voice, extra texture to the sibilance of club music, gratifying. their heart eases a little with this to buoy them up.]

I don't know. I thought there might have been a special technique you used just now, [they say, not making fun!! but playing a little, maybe, stooping their head to meander a kiss into the heel of the hand juno had put against their jaw. their stubble scuffs like velvet, shorter than juno's. they would both be in for some friction burn, with any more energy than that.] Initiating us Earth people who've never seen the stars before. [;D ;D

;D

most of flirting runs the risk of cheesy, right.]

[ it does. it really does, and the kiss to the callused part of his palm makes him close his eyes for half a second and indulge in the warmth it sends writhing up his wrist to his pulse, quickening a little more. ]

Special technique's called "caught unawares" or something like that. Apparently it's real attractive.

[ but it's not said with any hint of disdain or dislike. in fact, well. maybe it's not bad to play along like this, to let the music keep buzzing along his skin, to feel the residual ghostly presence of their mouth on his, their stubble brushing against his own in a way that made him want to press harder against their mouth.

instead he opts for stepping in even closer, despite how maybe humiliating it is to not be wearing his old clothes (thanks shep). he glances to the side a little, as if considering something, lingering, trying to give himself time to feel bad about something, anything, but he's too abuzz with whiskey and whatever weird glowing drink he'd had and the fact that janus kissed him. which is better than any drink, feels better. ]

Here's another. Don't know the name of it, but -

[ closer by a step, closer by leaning in, closer by an impulse that tugs him forward to kiss them because he's dancing in the middle of a crowd and he can kiss whoever the hell he wants. even if it's a little clumsy with nose because juno's not shy about it, not when he's been kissed first and feels it in his throat that he wants more. hell, he outright refuses to be shy. not when he wants a taste of them again, just a little more to let it linger. ]

[this is the part where it becomes a little difficult to multi-task. even if the dancing at clubs has never been dancing, with the steps, with the maneuvers, with an actual expectation to demonstrate a certain level of skill, it's better not to risk carving off the side of someone's calf with the edge of their shoe or snocking shoulders, if they expect this to go uninterrupted. and they-- would.

so they plant their feet in a sea of seething bodies, let the breadth of their shoulders cup the press of juno's smaller frame. they've always liked being the tall one, but enjoying the wider breadth of their body since that magical incident is a little newer. they wrap their arms around the soft fabric hamster pudge, and a smile bursts wide and toothy over their face, making the first clash of their second kiss a little messier, clicky and enamel-slick, before janus remembers to fold their mouth over and

then they're wolfing juno down, jaw slanted against jaw. so much about sex and sensuality comes to the same geometry, of opening, exposure, questing— janus licking into the trap of their mouth, pressing a muscled thigh in between his legs. pulling juno in tight enough that it crests on hurting the long muscles in his back.

juno isn't wrong. he is a real attractive lady.]

[ opening up is

difficult.

herculean.

bad bad bad.

juno's decided that from day one, but all of the elements are aligned properly and janus is kissing him in a way that makes him forget his own name, who he is, what he's done. every iota of a terrible thing skitters off to the wayside of the music and warm mouth and a thigh pressing in at the crux of his own so that he can feel them when he presses forward. boldness shocks the guilt, impulse bites at it, pins it down. he tells the invisible, twisting viper in his gut to let him have this. his hands find the warmth of janus' hair to sink his fingers into the short length at their nape, tasting their teeth, the seam of their mouth

(that's such a nice smile, so brilliant in the dark, the kind juno probably wouldn't mind being eaten up by. he thinks about teeth - sharp as a fox, on a mouth so full that it makes him ache. so he kisses back harder without a sound, quick to muffle his own second thoughts. no.)

he could get lost in this sensation, pressing against the surrounding heat of them, indulging in how oddly safe it feels to be curled around so in a sea of people and color and heat. janus' leg between his own stirs something warm and familiar in the pit of his stomach, flickering faintly and then disappearing. once again, it becomes motion that he could float away in, but not so completely that he can't crawl back to the shoreline of his brain and collapse.

but damn if he isn't going to try and drown himself now, pulling his mouth away to let a kiss press itself to the line of their jaw and make its way down his throat like a series of kiss-damp secrets whispered into his pulse. ]

I just threw up a little in my mouth, [kavinsky says,] but only a little. 'Most anyone saying that stuff, I'd throw up in my mouth a lot. Probably wouldn't be able to keep it all in. But okay, sweetheart. I know you too much a feminist to need my approval, but you got it anyway.

[he shrugs. trying not to smile.]

Only one other thing we need to talk about.

Well sure okay, [kavinsky blinks.] But don't fuckin' sprain nothing.

Lord Commander of The Temple Knights, the military force under the direct authority of the Holy See of Isghard. I suppose the title itself has little standing here and back home, well.

There needs to be perhaps some refinement.

[ Thank you, Pudding appreciates it greatly. ]

I suppose I should be glad the fact that parents withhold information from their children is universal.

[ He'd be glad to know she's agreeable to that sort of thing. It would nice, too, just to have little touches of home. He doubts that they'll ever truly settle in Xistentia, but... He wants to make it comfortable, at the very least, while their time here lasts.
Nothing wrong with that. ]

It's very possible. Or Rose. She's rather musically inclined, isn't she?

[ He'd seen her post on the network, heard her song but refrained from commenting then due to the lack of clothes and general... attitude. ]

Either way, I doubt we'll want long for something to provide us a bit of familiar entertainment.

[ A beat. ]

Pertinent information?

[ He contemplates briefly just how much to share, but decides- ]

Extremely. My father - and his entire line from the first Thordan - decided to withhold a very crucial bit of information from our history and I've been left to deal with the ramifications of it finally coming to light.

[ Finally, Kavinsky earns a laugh. Sidon isn't one to hold grudges or stay upset for too long, it seems. That might work in his favor. ]

I don't think we'll have to worry about that! We're both capable warriors and know our limits well.

[ No doubt the reason that they get on splendidly. So long as Kurt continues to be endeared, then there shouldn't be any sort of problem!

Sidon's movements come to a stop at Kurt's own recognition. He practically beams at the topic of the Hylian. It's quite cute and hard to miss just how excited he gets about the man he shares a world with. ]

Yes, that's him! He's from the same world as me. I'm so grateful that we arrived together, honestly.

[ He's right to presume as such. Sidon isn't entirely unobservant, but he also isn't one to catch subtle nuances. ]

I suppose that's true, [ he concedes. ] I still have difficulty talking of my sister, sometimes. As do others. I do try to speak of her fondly though, even if it is difficult!

[ Hmm. Loki considers this. ]

I assume your father was royalty then.

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I see trouble on the way.

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a mild powerpose!! lmk if not ok

YELLS but yes it's ok

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annnd lmk if not ok, but some powerprosing

:DD we all good

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