on this the night all hallows' eve

[sailmods]

who: the living and the damned
when: October 31st, 8PM to 11:59 PM
where: around the main pool on deck 6
what: HALLOWEEN PARTY, 1/2
warnings: TBA

[as you exit the elevator and walk towards the pool deck on Halloween night, you follow a sort of labyrinth of panels and decorations. about halfway through the maze, a scythe swings into your path, and a tall animatronic crackles to life:]

It is harvest time. I can smell it in the air. And I sense your soul is ripe for harvesting as well. When your time comes, my scythe will cleave your soul right off the vine like a ripened pumpkin. Time for carving!

[welcome to Halloween aboard the Serena Eterna.

the Infinite Spirit Halloween has been put to good use by a crack team of Mizuki and Ebalon, and half of it seems to now be located around the deck on the main pool. the pool has been dyed a swamp-like green; fake plastic vines and (hopefully) fake plastic limbs float in the waters. there are fog machines studded throughout that are putting out a frankly dangerous amount of fog, and it can be pretty difficult to tell if your next step is onto the floor or directly into the pool.

there is food available on a long table on the side, but it’s entirely the usual fare found in the buffet, though there are also two punch bowls: one is a delicious fruit punch, and the other is about 99% vodka and then a single orange. the bar is also open, with extra liquor bottles scavenged from the other bars on the ship. Halloween music plays from unseen speakers.

Friday is here, and dressed in costume, but never seems to stop fussing and rushing around long enough to actually have a conversation with. but, hey! Jenny is here! hooray!

have fun. you have ‘til midnight.]

Comments

[not_the_last]

She almost turns and runs -- walks away, not runs, walks away -- at the sight of the low drifting fog. The rest of the decorations are quaint, almost laughable, but the fog is like a blow to the ribs. Even when she realizes, after that first beat of heart-stopping fear, that it isn't green fog but only reflecting the green coloration of the pool; even then, what replaces the fear isn't humor but anger. Who thought this was a good idea?

But she went to all this trouble to get a mask and costume, and even if it isn't real armor (gods, she aches for her real armor) it's at least made partially of real leather, and it means that the real rapier on her hip won't look too odd.

So she takes a moment to breathe, in and out, and then strides into the party as though nothing is wrong.

[serialskiller]

It's not long after Cass arrives that a helmeted figure in a sequined jacket sort of...shows up beside her and hangs out like it's a personal bodyguard. You know, just incidentally present and here to be here for her.

[not_the_last]

"Hello," she says softly, without glancing up.

(She misses her personal guards too, Trisha especially, but has been ruthlessly suppressing that feeling for some time now. It wouldn't help anything to have them here with her. It wouldn't help.)

[serialskiller]

"Hi." The LED lights in the helmet spell out HELLO in friendly green letters across the faceplate before flickering off again.

"Real sword?"

[not_the_last]

"Yes," she says. "It's mine -- I had it with me when I first woke up here. I don't know why."

[serialskiller]

"I hope it isn't necessary to draw it tonight."

With other people, it'd consider a warning comment about not pulling it out unless necessary. But Cassandra, it knows, isn't going to jump into violence without damned good reason.

[not_the_last]

"I hope so too, but ... I'd rather have it and not need it than the other way around, I suppose."

Her gaze travels around the party. "Do they have this holiday where you're from? Everyone seems to know it."

[serialskiller]

"I don't remember ever having been at a celebration of this holiday before, but that doesn't preclude it being marked by anyone in the Corporate Rim. It might be that I've simply never been active in a place where it's been celebrated, or that I've been exposed to it but my memory has been purged since then. But as far as I know, it's new to me, too."

Was she looking for a simple yes or no? Oops, too bad.

[not_the_last]

Sometimes things aren't simple. She knows that much.

"Playing at being scared," she says quietly, her eyes on the pool.

After The Breakdown With SecUnit

[crushed_pearls]

From the fog emerges...

...A wet Smurfette. Erin's patted herself down as best she can with the cocktail napkins but there's no hiding that this three-apple-high blue person definitely got completely soaked not all that long ago; among other things it makes her white dress cling, revealing an even tinier sports bra beneath it and little itty bitty knives strapped to the outside of her legs that the fabric bunches around. She hops up onto a decoration on the floor and waves in Cassandra's direction with both hands, all enthusiasm.

"Cassandra!" Smurfette calls in Erin's voice. "Lass, down here! I come in pocket size! Can't see your costume without my blindfold though, I did NOT think that part though."

[not_the_last]

Cassandra stares down at the -- it's a tiny blue woman, smaller than a squirrel, but that's definitely a voice she knows.

"... Erin? What happened?"

[crushed_pearls]

"I shapeshift some!"

(The dress, clown.)

"Oh, you probably mean -" Erin shakes out the hem of her miniature dress and says something technically true: "I was talking with SecUnit and got all wet so I decided it'd be easier on my dignity to finish the job instead of drying off. Anyway! I still can't see shit, think you've got room on your shoulder for me?"

[not_the_last]

No, she was definitely thinking more about the body shape and size than the wet. Finding out that Erin did this on purpose is a considerable relief.

"Oh -- probably? Here, let me --" There are paper napkins on the table; she takes a few and crouches down to offer them as a close approximation to a towel. "If you'd like to dry off a little first?"

[crushed_pearls]

"I'll give it a shot," Erin concedes. She wraps herself in the napkins in a rather good imitation of a towel (wetness spreads across them immediately) before taking off her tiny hat and wringing it out vigorously. A little puddle splashes the floor. "I told ya I'd surprise you with my costume! Really glad you decided to come and see at least a little of Halloween's whole deal."

Erin beams a smile at Cassandra. This was the right move after that heavy talk. Just being here is already making her feel better.

"Now c'moooon it's shoulder time! I'm really light like this, I promise."

[not_the_last]

She can't quite suppress a giggle as she reaches down again. "Shall I -- pick you up? Or just put my hand down and you can ..." A vague gesture, meant to indicate walking or climbing up her arm.

[crushed_pearls]

"Lemme just hop onto your hand. I've been a lot more...well being small's been very helpful for my sense of personal space but if you just pick me up I'm pretty sure I'll turn into a feral cat," Erin admits. She frowns, mostly at herself. "...Not that the idea doesn't have a certain appeal. You have very nice hands, but I gotta wrangle myself at least a little here instead of recklessly going 'yes let the attractive lass hold your whole body, surely this doesn't end poorly'."

Erin wraps her wet hair in another napkin, now looking for all the world like she just got done showering, and bounces on the balls of her feet in anticipation.

[treadwater]

Out in the party is a bedsheet ghost, a youngblood lass named Undine...

The bedsheet ghost is short, less than five and a half feet tall, quietly toeing off her loafers and taking off her socks at the edge of the pool. Not to swim, no, but there's something about sitting at the edge of the water and dipping her toesies in that feels really appealing right now. There's a pause, though, as she feels unfamiliar eyes on her, and turns to look at Cassandra with eyes that are almost too brightly, brilliantly blue to be real, the only part of Undine visible beside brown legs and feet.

[not_the_last]

She wasn't sure what Erin meant by bedsheet ghost, but when she sees the figure sitting on the edge of the pool with fog wafting around her, it's immediately clear: oh, of course, bedsheet ghost.

"Hello," she says tentatively.

[treadwater]

"Hi. Don't mind me, I'm not quite daft enough or drunk enough to try to swim in this." She sits down, gathering her excess fabric up off her legs so she can dangle in the water. "Are you from a world where this Halloween thing is...a thing?"

[not_the_last]

"No, not at all," says Cassandra. "I'd never heard of it before. Are you?"

[treadwater]

"We have a similar holiday, called Fright Night, where kids dress up like the monsters to appease them for a night in autumn, and go door to door, collecting sweets from neighbors."

Note the key parts of that sentence.

[not_the_last]

What? It makes perfect sense.

"We don't have anything of that kind. Is it ... in fun, the way they celebrate it here?"

[treadwater]

"Yes, it is. And it seems to work, too, which makes it even better. Less of a need to be on guard, to have full heavy patrols. Sometimes I wonder why we only do it once a year, if it works."

[bigbadrose]

Rose can't even tell it's Cassandra under the mask, but she can tell something is upsetting them hard. So she stands next to her, concern stamped all over her face. "Hey, you okay?"

[not_the_last]

"What? Yes," Cassandra answers, before she's even turned to see who's speaking. "Yes, I'm fine."

A blink at Rose's costume, and a small smile. "Hello, Rose."