🎃 HALLOWEEN MINGLE 🎃

[benames]

You are cordially invited to Cisco and Winn's Not-Too-Terrifying Halloween Costume Party!

Who: everyone ( yes, you too!)
Broadcast: N/A
Action: aboard the Iskaulit!
When: current



[ on the night of the 28th, the lecture hall will open its gates though it'll look remarkably different. Winn and Cisco would have decorated the corridors leading to it with Jack-o'-lanterns made from the pumpkins gathered at the little patch on the planet. The hall itself will be similarly decorated, along with other traditional scary Halloween decorations made from paper and fabric ( don't ruin the little paper spiders, they took hours to make! ). There will be music from various times of Earth-1 and Earth-3, so don't be surprised to find Lady Gaga playing alongside the Spice Girls! Feel free to make requests or otherwise, just show your skills on the dance floor!

There will be a bar run by Nami offering free sodas, though you'll have to pay for your own alcohol ( remember, don't drink and fly! ). Alongside the bar, characters will find a few tables offering candy from Earth-1 won by Cisco at the game room with a little sign reading TAKE ONE, LEAVE SOME FOR OTHERS and quite a lot of space chips and protein dips as well as various candy from all over the different planets ( cleverly hoarded by Winn! ) and a large selection of pumpkin pies and pumpkin treats. Characters will also find a line leading to Cisco's trusty ice cream machine, though it'll only offer peanut butter flavored sorbet.

At the corner of the hall there will be a karaoke machine with a little sign-up sheet. Characters could sign up solo or in groups and list the song they'd like to sing. Keep in mind though, the entire hall will be able to hear your rendition of Sexy and I Know it!

Adventure-seeking characters will be able to follow signs reading HAUNTED HOUSE and reach a large hall that was turned into a maze by large cardboard blocks painted black or covered by dark fabrics. Making it out of the maze won't be too hard and the maze itself won't be too frightening but will be mildly startling. It'll include some nifty engineered animatronics of witches, scarecrows, scary clowns and skeletons as well as holograms of ghosts! The song featured in the invitation will also be heard here, on repeat. It's a good break from the dancing and for some private conversations and moments.

Remember, costume are mandatory! you don't want to be caught by tonight's pumpkin kings, do you? ]

Comments

[mucked]

And I for you, Schott. [ ... ] Dear Lord. You, with that name. Every time I say it I'm put in mind of how dreadful the jokes must always be.

[winn]

They get worse the more parts of my name you throw into them.

[ he nods, it's unfortunate really. he has so many reasons to change his name, sometime he thinks he should have. ]

[mucked]

Don't tell me your middle name is also a bit of a minefield.

[winn]

My proper first name is bad enough, you don't really need any more.

[mucked]

I've been meaning to ask -- is 'Winn' short for something?

[winn]

I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to call me that -

[mucked]

You have my word -- far be it from me to ever call a person something they don't want to be called. [ ... ] You don't want to know what I once did to a colleague who dared to call me Marge.

[ 'margaret' has a wealth of shortened, pet-forms. marge is not one she prefers. not at all. ]

[winn]

I'm gonna take your word for it - [ he doesn't even call margaery 'marge'. too simpson. ] it's Winslow. You can take a moment to imagine the infinite possibilities with mixing and matching 'win', 'slow', and 'shot', with a guy who's bad at sports.

[mucked]

[ almost idly: ] There was a USS Winslow that made the transatlantic rounds back in '45 -- or maybe '44. Porter-class. It was one of the destroyers that escorted Roosevelt's ship to meet with Churchill. [ ... ] And I'm not certain if you're aware of this, but warships are only ever given the most impressive names.

Like the HMS Victory. [ the fact that victory and win are synonymous was not, perhaps, a mistake in her bit of war-time gossip. ]

[winn]

[ why ms. carter, he might think you like him or something! ]

To clarify - are you complimenting me or my name?

[ he's never really learned how to just take compliments, and she definitely caught him off guard. he's visibly flustered.

even if he's still never going to be a fan of being called 'winslow', and not just for the teasing. ]

[mucked]

Neither. [ although her words are certainly meant kindly, there isn't really much to compliment within them. ] Only trying to suggest that a whole name might be greater than the sum of its parts.

[ and that anyone else was a wanker for taking cruel pleasure in dividing up a name only to ostracize a person. ]

That said, 'Winn', alone, is quite catchy. I couldn't fault you for using it.

[winn]

[ he finds most impressive flattering. ]

Shortening words is very in with my generation.

[ he almost wishes he were behind it, that it would've been something that completely set him apart from his father - but his parents started the trend. trying not to think about them just makes it worse. ]

[mucked]

So I've noticed. [ but, in the interest of not being too curmudgeonly. ] I can't say mine has been much better. We like our acronyms.

[winn]

Yeah? Hit me with some 40s acronyms.

[mucked]

Are you certain? Some are awfully cheesy.

[ admittedly, she has a whole head full of acronyms, initials, and official agency names. some more confidential than others. but there was a funny little tidbit she felt (mostly) comfortable sharing. ]

It stands to reason we didn't have all the lush and luxurious communications systems so endemic to the future -- so when some servicemen wrote home to their sweethearts, they'd leave little messages on the back of the envelopes. SWALK meant 'sealed with a kiss'. HOLLAND stood for 'hope our love lasts and never dies' -- all very soppy.

[ except for the ones that were downright pornographic, but she'll refrain from mentioning those. ]

[winn]

Aww, that's sweet.

[ you're talking to a man in love, peggy. he's basically a cheese machine. ]

sealed with a loving kiss* i forgot the l!!

[mucked]

And above and beyond those are the usual slog of military initials upon initials upon initials. [ ... ] Makes a headache out of codebreaking.

<3

[winn]

[ he nods ]

But most professions come with acronyms I don't think that's so much a generational thing - computers have a ton too.

[mucked]

I'm afraid that's a conversation well beyond my scope. We may have had computers back in the '40s, but those computers were the girls doing the maths so the gunnery officers knew where to shoot.

[ all her computer education has come from her augment and from the fleet itself. the word 'computer' had itself been nothing more than a job description. ]

Not that I doubt you. Progress breeds complication.

[winn]

Yeah I'll spare you the headache - let's just agree that professional acronyms don't count. The internet loves its acronyms though...and its emoji.

[mucked]

-- Don't get me started on emojis.

[ NONSENSE. ]

[winn]

Not a fan?

[ why is he getting a feeling that getting her started will be hilarious though. ]

[mucked]

[ peggy actually enjoys deciphering things, but those silly little faces! the bother her almost as much as the music does. ]

They're a touch on the dramatic side. [ ahem. ] And I can't help but feel like a toddler pointing at a picture book whenever I consider using one.

[ 'how are we feeling today, pegs? oh! look, she pointed at the face with the rolling eyes!' ]

[winn]

[ he laughs ]

They get addictive, the more you use text, you know - picture's worth a thousand words, and who's got the time to type a thousand -

[ writing judgmental glare just doesn't convey it as well as ಠ_ಠ ]

[mucked]

All it means is that someday eloquence will be a lost art -- [ mind you, she isn't saying it's already lost. she's met plenty of eloquent creatures from the future. but beyond that? who knows. she doesn't trust it. ]