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.

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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!

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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

[astralera]

[ This man is clearly very drunk if he honestly believes her costume looks anything like the elven archer's... Or he's joking. Perhaps it's a mixture of both? Regardless, she doesn't see why she should be rude and not introduce herself with her proper name. ]

Era.

[ While he devours his own piece of pie, Era will wash hers down with a quick drink of water from the crystal jar she has at her hip. Then grab a cookie to nibble on as well.

Gotta eat her body weight in sweets before the night is over, clearly. ]

[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.]

[astralera]

Mesozoic is not a word in my world. [ Era isn't quite sure what to make of this man, but is giving his character the benefit of the doubt seeing as he is quite inebriated. ]

My world believes the land is always shifting from periods of abundance followed by catastrophes that bring scarcity and destruction. These eras are known as Astral eras and Umbral eras respectively.

[servomotor]

[A furrow appears in Tony's brow. He regards Era with unmistakable skepticism for a moment. He's met so many Steves and Thors in the world, at this point, that it's hard for him to tell the difference if someone is primarily having a different cultural experience, or if they're just ignorant of his world's contemporary sciences, or both. Identification of the second is may or may not be couched in irritating ignorance, of course.

And she's being informative. In her own way. Presumably.] Mystical terms, [he says.] Well, maybe psionic. There's crossover, according to the God of Thunder. I'm going to assume you come from a world without dinosaurs. No history of giant reptile bones or their shapes found packed in stone? Discovery of the remains of earlier forms of... [A long stare.] Au Ra.

[Look. He read the Internet.]

[astralera]

You would assume incorrectly. [ She doesn't exactly frown, but she doesn't look thrilled either. ] Dinosaurs are classified as a genus of Scalekin in Eorzea. Brachiosaurs, Archaeosaurs, Tyrannosaurs, Triceratops... They are the dinosaurs I have been attacked by most frequently. If you're speaking of dinosaur fossils, I have mined some in the past though I prefer hunting them for their leather.

[ She's got some dinosaur leather shoes that she's quite fond of you know! very stylish. ]

My world has no relation to yours. If you need an idea of a similar universe consider the world of Middle Earth, as it has many parallels to my own.

[servomotor]

Incorrect. Your world has a Hell of a relation to mine. [Tony adjusts on his feet, the motorized servos in the legs of his armor, in his boots, whirring audibly as he turns to get a better look at her. He doesn't stare at her ear-bones or anything as obvious as that, but he makes note of them and her small stature, the scales, without actually having to look at them directly.] You have dinosaurs. You use taxonomy to categorize living beings. You have animal products.

But evolution took off on different lines. Or started somewhere slightly different and ran approximately parallel, suggesting similar environmental pressures and-or the presence of intelligent design. [He's counted her fingers. Five. Why would five be the magic number in the multiverse? He doesn't know, but it's interesting. He cuts up four or five bites of pie without actually eating them, studying her with drunken but sincere interest.]

You expect differences in technological advancement when native abilities make them redundant. If you have swords and knives, but no guns, I think that means your people have figured out other ranged fighting techniques.

[astralera]

[ She narrows her eyes as he turns to look at her without looking. There are certainly similarities across all worlds in that sense, but not in any way that matters to her. ]

Yes, those three things make our worlds so similar. [ she can't help but roll her eyes. ] We also have food and water and trees.

We have unicorns and pegasi, minotaur, cyclops, behemoths, morbols, chocobos, and dragons, to name a few. My world has science; mathematics, geometry, physics, and alchemy, among others. We have guns, archery, and magic for ranged combat.

I do not know of this 'intelligent design' you speak of. Even going back as far as we can into history both recorded and archaeological, things have stayed largely the same.

My world was made by the Mothercrystal, whom I have met frequently and can confirm is no mere tale.

Like I have said - look to your world's 'high fantasy' fiction and it will be as similar an example to Hydaelyn as you will find.

[servomotor]

Look. Sweetheart. [Tony looks at her little face, his own eyes crinkling in distinct amusement at the little quirks of annoyance in her face.] I wasn't trying to trigger your weird genre insecurity. Believe it or not, taking an interest in things outside your immediate understanding is kind of how a lot of conversations get started. No crime in learning something. Even at a party at the end of the world.

[He does have the decided luxury of saying that, being a playboy billionaire inventor blah blah. And that luxury makes him-- decidedly not good at talking to people who are less cool about the gaps in their own expertise.] 'Intelligent design' probably fits Mothercrystal, if she's a sentient being. The 'maker' of your universe.

And water and trees are a pretty big get for habitable universes. Mothercrystal or no. [Another wad of pie comes off and all is left is the crust, which he doesn't feel like! So he sets down the emptied plate on another one nearby, ditching his fork next to it, his armor moving with surprising delicacy for all that.] I'm not interested in fiction. I'm interested in breaking down the components of reality-- our mutual reality. And making it work for us. World like this, magic and science are synonyms.

[astralera]

My name is Era, and I suggest that you use it. [ Her expression smooths out to something more neutral and difficult to read. ] Perhaps I am simply tired of people trying to judge and compare my world to theirs when there is no comparison. Hydaelyn is Hydaelyn, not any variation of 'Earth'.

And the Mothercrystal is most certainly sentient. She birthed my world and the ones parallel to it. For all intents and purposes she is my mother, so refer to her with respect.

[ ...Ew. A food waster. B( ]

Focus on breaking down Xistentia's reality then, and leave my world out of it. Perhaps you believe magic and science are synonyms but from my experiences they are not. There is an overlap, but they are not the same thing.

[servomotor]

Seeing Hydaelyn as a variation of Earth isn't my problem. Believing magic and science are 'synonyms' isn't my problem. It's your problem with me, [Tony tells her, brightly.] Era. As far as I'm concerned, Earth could be a variation of Hydaelyn. Or both of our worlds a variation of some raw template that's the basis for many discrete realities in the multiverse. Or there's no template, only a spectrum.

Either way, it's pretty obvious you don't have an interest in jack outside your own sphere of understanding. [He doesn't look irritated, and nor is he particularly hard to read. He is vastly accustomed to people being disapproving, offended, or defensive— whether at a congressional hearing or in a party between universes.] 'Reveling in our differences' is a cute story. In real life, you sound as sick of them as you are of anything besides your homeworld and your preference of magic. Fun conversation. I always have ten minutes for an incurious pie-eater.

Good luck with all that, Era. [He offers her a blithe, gauntleted hand to shake.]

[astralera]

[ Era shrugs. She has had more important people than mere intoxicated strangers think little of her, and though condescending tones and assumptions irritate her (and she's aware this is somewhat hypocritical, as she has made assumptions of her own) this man's opinions of her really don't matter at all.

So long as he is not insulting the Mothercrystal or her home she has nothing to add, for she's quite certain that this man won't see her world as anything more than something else to pick apart. Perhaps if she had any interest in visiting any one of the various versions of 'Earth' she had heard of she might think differently - even similarly to this man - but as it is the way she views worlds is certainly not the same.

She spares a glance for the gauntleted hand but does not take it. While whatever he's wearing is clearly capable of being delicate Era does not trust it. Instead she inclines her head politely. ]

If you find a tall man named Aymeric you would likely have more luck with whatever it is you wish to know. As a politician he likely has more applicable knowledge.

And ten minutes is fair enough to give to a condescending food-waster.

[ Her tone is not hostile but simply... polite. For the sake of being polite. It's obvious she doesn't think very highly of him, dismissing him as she would a pompous Ishgardian noble. ]