🎃 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

[interstices]

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?

[paraclete]

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.]

[interstices]

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.

[paraclete]

[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.

[interstices]

[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.