driftfleet | 🎃 HALLOWEEN MINGLE 🎃

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🎃 HALLOWEEN MINGLE 🎃

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? ]

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[It's not that he defers to her, exactly—Kaworu hasn't deferred to anyone, exactly, in a long time—but he certainly won't look petulant when she makes a strong suggestion. He takes it in stride, as with most things, his mild smile just a bit tough at one edge. Overzealous, still. He's trying to learn the difference between being eager to please and being reluctant to displease.

Anyway, he plucks up the (???)eyeball(???) with more grace than previous Angels have dealt with eyes. It's graceless, though, the way he jams it into his mouth.

It's a bit big, so he can't do much more than hum at her while it sits inside his mouth; it pokes out against the inside of one cheek, and he smiles with his mouth closed, eyelids lowering contentedly. He looks really stupid, in this moment.]

Well? What's it taste like?

[Impatient. She realizes belatedly he probably can't answer her properly yet, though that doesn't curb her annoyance. Like Shinji, he doesn't argue with her demand; he just does it. Asuka can't remember the last time she felt this special brand of mild, itchy irritation. All she knows is that Kaworu looks like more of a fool with an oversized jawbreaker in his mouth than without it, and worse, it looks as though he enjoys it. Like he's at ease with it.]

[He'd like everyone to believe he's at ease always, but she knows better. The last several months have taught her that. Looking at the way his cheek's puffed out, like a chipmunk in a documentary she saw once, she reaches over, blindly grabbing a lollipop from her plate and unwrapping it as she speaks.] You look like you're about to choke, you know.

[In response, Kaworu gives a sunshine smile, which still looks goofy thanks to his chipmunk cheek. Then he situates his jaw, and bites down into the candy with one quick, strong motion. There's the quiet click of his molars meeting once they get through the gummy mouthful.

He chews silently for a few moments, but thankfully swallows before actually speaking.]

Tastes very sweet. [Cherry flavored, not that he would know.] It probably wasn't like the real thing at all.

[He watches her hands, smile gone mild but still content, and then he does something he rarely has before, if at all: he actually suggests that Asuka do something.]

You should try one of them, too.

[There's something quite pleased about him. Hopefully his smile doesn't seem like a smirk, but sometimes he's bad at conveying himself. In reality, he's just charmed by that itchiness she's feeling.]

You want me to?

[She's sort of taken aback by the suggestion. Nobody ever tells her to do anything. Nobody can. (Shinji's tried, but he's gotten all the agreeableness of an irate rattlesnake.) Even inane things. Even harmless things.]

[Sometimes she wonders when she got so scary. Then she shoves it back out of her mind.]

Yeah. I guess.

[There are some more of the jawbreakers on a platter beside her plate. She reaches for one-- this one white with speckles of blue-- hesitates, and then pops it into her mouth. Childishly, she wants to believe he asked her to do it so she'd look as stupid as him, but she knows better. Asuka's overthinking everything as she bites down too violently into the jawbreaker, teeth clacking together. Blueberry flavored. The gelatinous treat is hard to chew all at once, but she manages, looking far too intent on the task for what it's worth.]

It's not bad. It's just weird. Jawbreakers shouldn't be chewy.

[Kaworu watches Asuka through part of her chewing, but eventually his eyes slide off to the side, even if he doesn't turn his face. He puts his hands into the pockets of his overalls. The gesture looks different, now, in an outfit like this. Incongruous. Despite this, he looks comfortable with himself. Despite Asuka, and the previous anxieties she has inspired within him, Kaworu looks comfortable with himself. If at first he seemed too eager to impress, now he appears satisfied, perhaps for secret reasons. He hasn't stopped being vague as hell, of course.]

Jawbreaker, huh? That's a violent name, don't you think. So, if it wasn't bad, it might have been good?

[Just his insistent optimism, perhaps, or...]

But maybe you were just "okay" with it. That's fine, too.

[...or, in his way, he's gauging the situation. Looks like his birthday, once he overcame his embarrassment, gave him a bit of strength here.]

That's fine?

[The costume doesn't match him. Maybe hers doesn't match, either. Red Riding Hood's supposed to be an idealist, an innocent. The Woodsman's supposed to be burly and-- maybe not menacing, but strong. Instead he's... well. He can't help but be anything but himself.]

Yeah. I guess that's fine.

[She starts on the lollipop (blood-colored, and staining her teeth and tongue) without preamble. At least the texture seems right as she licks it, although the flavor's hard to discern.]

They're supposed to be hard. [She seems stuck on that train of thought, or maybe it's just hard to come up with a topic around him.] So hard you'd practically break your jaw biting into them. That's where the name comes from.

[Confection which may cause one to break one's jaw. So, a bit weird, but Lilin have been known to do weirder. Kaworu doesn't break stride.]

It's amazing how many different sorts of things are made to be eaten. [Granted, Kaworu's diet has been, on occasion, even stranger than a bone-breaking candy. Regardless,] It's a way to create I never would have expected. Things to eat, and things to celebrate. Halloween is more interesting than I thought. But that's how Lilin is, right? Always making something to pass the time.

[He's pawing at the candy while he speaks, indiscriminate but interested. It's not that nothing catches his eye, he just doesn't know what to try first.

Finally he settles on a wrapped up piece of bubblegum. Not that he knows how to properly chew gum... He's probably going to just swallow it.]

You really like the Lilin, don't you?

[She sucks on the lollipop, a little absently. Usually all his admiring rambling just ticks her off. Usually she doesn't have anything she really wants to say to him that isn't a splatter of pure agitation. It's different.]

[It's not bad.]

I don't get why you do.

[Instead of an immediate answer, Kaworu spends a little time chewing on the gum, admiring its texture between his teeth. Wow, somebody could just chew this stuff forever. (Still doesn't know how gum works!!!) Of course, he swallows it.

The answer he does finally give, while not immediate, is at least not too convoluted:] Should I not? They've done much more than I have.

They haven't done anything for you.

[Asuka bites off a small chunk of her lollipop, crunching it noisily. She thinks the taste might be strawberries, at least, from what she can remember on the Marsiva, where they had all those different flavors. It's still hard to tell. Another, larger crunch, and then--]

Did you just swallow that?

I swallowed it, [Kaworu says, apparently content with the action; but more importantly, and moving backward,] You think they've done nothing for me?

[He's fiddling with the gum wrapper, eyes moving here and there between it and Asuka's face. This isn't a nervous action; instead he's creasing it with great intent.]

They haven't. [She's not conveying the same amount of aggravation and irritation she usually does with him. The acid of her words is gone; it's just dull insistence taking their place. She doesn't know much about him, not really. Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, and the rest didn't tell her things, but she isn't stupid. She knows he didn't come into existence wearing a plugsuit like some kind of twisted Athena.]

[She crunches the last of her lollipop before she reaches over and gets another piece of bubblegum. Her palate doesn't recognize a lot, even after so long on the Fleet, but she knows exactly what that candy is.

Look. You chew it, you don't swallow. [She pops the piece in her mouth, the taste juicy and too-sweet, smacking her lips a bit as the gum softens up and gets more elastic in her mouth.] Like this. [And a pause as she keeps on working the candy between her jaws. Red Riding Hood teaching the Huntsman how to chew a piece of bubblegum. It's the most impractical demonstration of skill she's ever showcased.] You can blow bubbles with it. Watch. Just stick it across your tongue and blow.

[He doesn't argue with her, at first, and maybe it seems like he's not going to. Kaworu's processing all of her words very seriously, treating this less like a lesson in frivolity and more like a plan of attack. He watches her chew (he did chew?? aren't you supposed to swallow food??), and then—and then he watches her blow the bubble.

His face goes from determined to astonished, and genuinely impressed, in an instant. This demonstration doesn't strike him as impractical at all. Instead it's like a wonder, something else new to file away in his treasury of experiences.]

I like that. [He's too blatantly charmed to be patronizing. And then, after a breath—maybe he is going to argue a little after all, in his way—] You see, I learn so many things.

[The bubble deflates, leaving a sticky mess on her chin that she tugs and picks away, not really caring that he's watching her do it. It's not like she's trying to impress him. Right? But he looks impressed. Like she's shown him something amazing instead of something silly and childish.]

[It's nice to be looked at like that. She hasn't impressed anyone in so long, it's pitiful. Just pitiful. Asuka keeps antsily chewing the bubblegum before her need to break the silence gets too strong. She always feels as if she needs to be doing something, saying something, or else it's almost like she's not important. Unwrapping another piece of gum, she holds it out in her palm, pushing her hand against his shoulder.]

They're not so great. You try it.

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🎃 HALLOWEEN MINGLE 🎃

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