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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[ Wyatt’s got a pretty strong constitution for alcohol. He generally tries to compensate by drinking more than any reasonable human should, but he’s not quite there yet tonight. Rosie still makes him a little unsure.

Which might contribute to him trying harder. He thinks about it, then leans on the bar, his jacket draping open across his chest. ]

Hey baby, you set off the sprinklers? Cause you’re smokin’ tonight.

[ Actually: he has noticed her outfit. This is as hot as he’s ever seen Rosie. ]

[ She really didn't want to be amused. There's a genuine, visible effort of the woman attempting to keep her expression schooled into something composed. But it cracks almost immediately, grin splitting her face at the horribly cheesy line.

He didn't disappoint. ]

That was terrible. I loved it. [ Obviously. ] Also, thank you. [ She gives a roll of her shoulders, puffing up just a little at the compliment, even as silly as it was. ] I'll take your word for it since you're an expert in what's hot.

[ 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?

[ 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.

[ Wyatt shakes his head. ]

Nah. I mean I had my eye on someone, but it seems like he's gone now.

[ So, you know. Their whole argument seems like a hell of a waste in the wake of that. He chews on his lip and slides his eyes back over to her. ]

I shouldn'a been rough on you before. It ain't like I had any hold on him, anyway. I don't even think he liked me, and...he might've liked you. [ His shoulders roll into a shrug. ] I was jealous. Don't make it right, though, I know.

[ Rose had noticed. She hadn't said anything because it's the nature of these places. Really, she's surprised it didn't happen to her sooner. A handful of people seemed to come through Eudio like a revolving door. Yet, no one she was ever close to was one of the ones there one day then gone the next. Even the ones that did leave, she had time to say good-bye.

Not that she was particularly close to Jaden in the first place. ] Nah, [ she answers, giving a shake of her head. ] We had fun but he wasn't... I don't think it would've ever been more than that.

[ Not that she'll likely have the chance to know now. ] I'm just competitive, which can bring out the worst in me.

[ Like sulking because she got third place or throwing a drink at Vex for being a sore winner. ] It's all water under the bridge though. I'm cool if you are, dude.

[ Wyatt looks at her. She was competitive, she says, which means she'd thought it was a competition. Maybe it was, and maybe in that case he was right to be jealous.

Even if that's the case, though, it doesn't change the fact that Jaden hadn't been interested. There was no point in making it a competition at all. He shrugs his shoulders, and then nods. ]

Yeah. I'm cool. There's nothin' to fight over. It wasn't like...

[ He rolls his eyes, and then looks at her frankly, gesturing at himself. ]

I wouldn't have been competition. Cause Rose, for real, no one's gonna want someone like me when they can have someone like you. [ He gestures at basically all of her. She should know this, he thinks. She'd seen how he lived in that other world. That world hadn't been real, but the Wyatt in it had been. He's just as much of a street rat in the real world as he had been there. ]

Anyways. We're cool. I hope you find someone who'll want it to be more than that. I saw your song. [ Her naked song. Which...he'd also figured was about Jaden, not knowing any better. ] There's gotta be someone better than that for you.

[ She had, to some degree. Won't deny the way jealousy twisted at her too when Wyatt had talked about his interest in Jaden in his first vlog.

She had been threatened a little by him, honestly, someone so effervescent and more sincere in his sunshine. So it's for that reason she stares at him at the claim in mild disbelief, maybe. A deer in the headlights look if he ever saw one. It's brief. A smile curls her lips again once its registered, something softer but genuine.

There's a lot of ugliness underneath all this beauty that he barely scratched the surface of. ]

I wanted you too, y'know. [ Want a little still, maybe. Not that she'll admit that right now. Seems a bit too risky. ] Don't sell yourself so short, dude. Glad we're cool though.

I've got Vanyel and Farraige. They're good to me. [ Both are better men than she deserves. ] I'm sure you'll find someone good for you too.

[ Wyatt sees the surprise on her face. It confuses him, since he genuinely thinks Rosie knows what she's got. She flaunts it, after all; she'd been flaunting it in that video and she's flaunting it tonight. There's also a part of him that retains his impression of her from the other world; someone several classes above him, so far out of his league that he could barely see her.

That can't be competed with. He wouldn't even try.

So he ducks his head when she says she'd wanted him too, and he shrugs. ]

I thought you maybe did. I was jealous cause of that, too. Cause you picked him and he picked you. That's so stupid now.

[ He rolls his eyes at himself before looking up at her, and he frowns at what she says next. ]

What do you mean, Vanyel and Farraige? Were you not singing about Jaden?

[ Nothing does wonders for the confidence like having two boyfriends, it's true, but she still doesn't think too highly of herself more often than she does. That video had also been a... ploy, in a way. Using her looks in a way she wasn't necessarily proud of now.

Even tonight, for as good as she'll agree she looks, sincere compliments such as his catch her off guard. ]

I mean, me picking someone doesn't mean I can't pick others too. That's why I have two boyfriends, Vanyel and Farraige. [ Her smile seems to say 'Why not?' ]

So nah, I wasn't singing about Jaden. Well, not exactly. I'd gotten into a fight with both of my boyfriends at the fair over how I handled things with Jaden. It was just... a real mess, which I made worse because of that dumb video.

[ Wyatt stares at her for a second. He can't actually believe this is the explanation. The girl he'd been worried was competition already has two boyfriends?

There's a part of him, deep down, that surges with fresh irritation at that news. She had two already, but what, she just had to have Jaden too? Awesome, super awesome.

He swallows it. There's no point in those feelings. They're not going to go anywhere, and while it doesn't leave Wyatt with the best impression of Rosie, he at least won't haul her over the coals for it. Not now. ]

You're like Rafa, [ is all he says, his eyes sliding away. ] Or Hunter. I don't know how you guys do that, like how you...feel for more than one at once. I'd get it, if it was just sex.

[ He glances at her, appraising. He knows it's not just that with his family. He knows them. But with Rosie? In fairness, it might be that. ]

It's not, is it? With the two guys. You got real feelings for them, right?

[ She didn't have to but isn't going to deny she wanted him as well. Just like she'd wanted Wyatt, wants Kaz, wants- Probably too many people, honestly. ]

I am, a little? I did talk to him about it before since he seems to have a way better idea about what he's doing than me when it comes to all this multiple partners business. [ Rafa has three husbands, alright. Rose only has two boyfriends. She's got a long way to go before she's on his level. ]

But it's not just sex, no. I love Vanyel. And it's too soon to say that I love Farraige too but I definitely see myself being able to easily if given the time. [ He's not wrong to wonder if it might just be sex, of course, because- ] They're my boyfriends though and when I asked them to be, it was acknowledging that there were, in fact, real feelings involved. Both of my relationships with them started as 'just' sex but I tend to catch feelings pretty easily, seems like.

[ Which is... not actually the ideal way to go about this, honestly, but it's how Rose does and it's worked out for her so far! Mostly. Just, y'know, ignore that fair fiasco. ]

[ ‘Catch feelings’? Wyatt wonders if it was ever this messy for Hunter. God, it probably was. He isn’t sure how this kind of a love life could be anything but messy. Maybe he’ll learn. After all, look at his family. ]

Yeah, well. Other people got feelings too, you know? If you guys are happy then whatever, but I ain’t blind, Rosie. I saw that video. I hope you find whatever it is you want.

Seems like you already have a lot, though. I mean, more than most people do.

[ Some people learn to enjoy a bit of chaos in their lives, she supposes. Rose never has been the most put together person to begin with, so. It almost seems to suit her, in a way, being a little messy. She prefers the terms spontaneous or exciting though over 'messy.' ]

I know. [ Even if it sure doesn't seem that way. It's complicated. A lot of times she takes other people's feelings into too much consideration, decides for them what they should or shouldn't feel instead of talking to them about what they actually feel and going forward. She's gotten better, of course, but it still needs some work. ]

And... I guess I do. It's not that I don't appreciate what I have, I just. What I have is so great, it makes me want more. Y'know? Like when you eat something delicious, you never want to finish it. That kind of feeling.

[ Wyatt watches her. He tries really hard not to be irritated by what she's saying, but it's even harder not to think about what it was like to be on the wrong side of that hunger she's describing. The more she talks about it, the more he just thinks she sounds selfish. When Hunter talks about loving more than one person, he never talks about what other people give him. He talks about how much he loves them.

He shouldn't compare them. It's not fair, and his opinion is tainted by the fact that he was jealous of her with Jaden. If he were either more selfless himself, or more mature - or both, maybe, since one might influence the other - he'd be able to push past those feelings. But he's still young, and not completely self-aware enough to psychoanalyse his own thoughts.

All of this means that he turns away, looking at the bar or the lights - anything that's not Rosie. ]

Yeah, I get it. Must be nice.

[ Which sounds a little sharp. They're supposed to be making up. He chews on his lip. ]

Maybe we just, we shouldn't talk about it. It's your business, and I'm not...it's not my business. Do you want, like, a drink or something, maybe?

[ It's true that Rose thinks an awful lot about herself and what she's gaining. Maybe it's because she's used to losing instead, or maybe- She's just kind of selfish, still needs to learn to give as much as she takes. It's hard to say. ]

It is, [ she says, though she can tell her answer wasn't one he was looking for. Will she ever have the answers Wyatt's looking for? ]

But that sounds good to me. I want the one that feels like pop rocks on your tongue, have you tried it yet? It's fun. Magnus knows how to make some awesome drinks.

[ At least she's just as happy to switch topics, to drink and chatter the rest of the night away with him about nothing quite so personal or important. ]

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I see trouble on the way.

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and that's a wrap!