driftfleet | Halloween Mingle!

Entry tags:

Halloween Mingle!

Who: Everyone
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Mingle Post for the Halloween and Drift period!
When: 10/28-11/11

It's time for a spooky candy-filled drift, Flooters! And because no Halloween is complete without a few tricks...a mini player plot! If you'd rather just have a normal mingle, feel free to ignore it and tag about as normal!

===
On the Iskaulit for interested parties there are a few bowls of candy gathered from all the ships. It's a random assortment! The bowls are left in high traffic areas and they can be moved about, so feel free to say your character ran into the bowl wherever you like! Even in the bathroom? Who knows! Fancy hotels do it, so why not the Fleet.

Upon consuming candy taken from the bowl however, the character will have their hair or skin temporarily change color to something not their natural shade. This is a harmless illusion spell and can last anywhere from 1 to 8 hours - player's choice! What colors? Also player's choice! Want to go mauve for the day? Sure! Blue and green? Go for it! Rainbow glitter? Why not?

This is a completely harmless spell though, so while it looks like they've changed colors, it is not a real physical change. After a few hours, the effects wear off and everything is back to normal. Happy Halloween♥

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[A cat might forgive but people were different. Kova would do what he wanted, either way, but.]

Perhaps you should.

[She says, hesitantly -- perplexed in a way, that this conversation had come to this, when it all had started because he wanted her to have candy for tricking her, as it were, and she should have gone on her way then but she did not, she always lingers for his torment. Learning how to demonstrate affection for a cat was one thing, but for a person? Less clear. Not that she could even ask the question, after all that.]

...He is not far. It could be that he has gone to demonstrate his displeasure.

[Sorry Taako, Lup is the chosen one right now. Once upon a time, he might not have allowed such cuddling, but for this he acquiesces. They're both unhappy, Lup even moreso but he purrs in her arms as a comfort, a low, vibrating rumble.]

...Do you actually want him to throw up in your stuff?

[He knows Haggar is gloomy and all, but that's a little much. Taako glances down the hall, but the cat has disappeared from view and he gives up with a light shrug. Cats will do as they do. Maybe it got irritated that they were fighting or just tired of waiting for attention.]

Because A) that's gross, and B) why? Just a glutton for punishment or something?

Not that literally, but...

[She's quiet for a moment, eyes closing briefly. She is bad at this, and perhaps it is made worse by all the things she had been good at.

These little openings to address things, not knowing if it was right to take them or not, or if her pride should bar her from doing so. Inflicting pain on others was what she knew; turning it around on herself seemed the obvious answer.

No, it was not even about Kova anymore, even if he was a start.]

... You are someone who has held a lot of anger for a long time, are you not. For... whatever your circumstances may have been. You have survived by doing what you can.

[Reading people, she could do. But only that. The walls never had any answers, for all her brooding.]

... How... would you respond, hypothetically, if ... someone were to realize the situation they had put you in, after ... having been checked out for so long. And if they were someone you did not trust--and had no reason or desire to.

[He waited, arms crossed over his chest. It looked like Haggar wanted to say something and that Taako, however inadvertently, had opened the gates. No sense in shutting her out now that she's decided to say something. He knows how hard that can be - not that he's planning on opening up to anyone anytime soon. Taako's personal vault was nice and locked up tight.

He raises an eyebrow at Haggar's assessment, but merely shrugs in response neither a confirmation or a denial. Shit happens and it happened to him. Sure, he's angry about it, but any kid would be. It's dulled over the years, but no one ever really gets over being left alone. He can laugh it off though and he usually does.

But that question? Hm... So this isn't just above Kova then, but someone else? Here? Home? Who knows. He listens though and while his first instinct is to say that he'd flip them the fuck off and say go eat a rock, he knows that's not a good answer. He'd still do it, but it wasn't a good answer.]

Well, I'd be pissed that's for sure.

[If his parents weren't dead? If they'd just decided to give him up for some reason? Yeah, pissed would be an understatement. Betrayed and hurt and angry would be closer to it. But that's not how it would go. They'd been laid to rest and that was that. Dead and gone and better off forgotten because sometimes it still hurt to think about how his relatives had chosen to pass him around like unwanted Candlenights gifts in an White Elephant exchange. Remembering that it could have been different, that someone could have cared, was just...too much.

But if his shitty ass cousins who'd beaten him up when they were kids suddenly decided to show up and apologize? Well, he'd flip them off, but at least he'd listen. So he told Haggar as much.]

It depends on what they want. Absolution for what they did? Fuck right the fuck off, you can't erase the shit you pulled and pretend it didn't happen. Forgiveness? Can't say I could, depending on what they did, but?

[He shrugs.]

Doesn't mean they can't try. Even if I never forgive them, knowing that they're trying to make amends for the shit they did makes it a little easier. Maybe I'd hate them a little less or be able to put up with them a little more. But it's just a first step - and Taako doesn't forgive easily. I'd be needing to see some real fuckin' work put into making amends.

[She remains silent as he speaks. It was a perspective she had wanted and she knew Taako wouldn't mince around with words or meanings, and ... he certainly had delivered on that front. She knew the particular person to whom the question had actually pertained had wounds that were deep for her inability to care, even if she could not remember them all. There was still much she was missing, those too-wide gaps of memory.

Perhaps his answer was not what she could have hoped to hear in the best of circumstances, but it did cover the worsts, and she could very well apply them even if the language would of course be different.

What was worse was that she actually did not know what she wanted to do - what she could do, really. Hers was a twisted life laden with responsibility, except for the one thing she should have taken responsibility for, and surely she should anticipate further rejection and with great cause. That was the feeling she got from this, having that dread put into words even if she was used to it.

There was too much to brood about and too much time for it. Still, she listens.]

... I thank you for your perspective on this.

[She says at length. It was difficult to reconcile how she had allowed herself to be that vulnerable to begin with, but sometimes, one had to ask questions, especially if they were able to in an environment that did not require anything else from her. She has no idea what she's doing, and she hates it.]

As a chef, you have provided... food for thought.

[He was about to shrug, but then she had to follow up her thanks - which Taako totally deserved for even attempting to open up to her since he never opened up to anyone because it was dangerous and sticky and left a bad taste in his mouth - with a goof.

An honest to the gods goof.

From the Deep and Dreary Droopy Dog of the First Breath.

Taako stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded.

And then his ears twitched and perked up, a smile spreading from one corner of his face to the other.]

Holy shit, she does have a sense of humor! She's alive! ALIVE!

[And he cackled like Dr. Frankenstein over his creation. Goodbye any budding sense of seriousness.]

[The argument inside appears to have eased, and Taako laughs, a sound that warms Lup's heart while at the same time stings to hear. The atmosphere is a little lighter, but now she's the one too compromised to join them. If she tries to walk in now, they'll know immediately that something's up- or they might know she overheard them.

Time to go.

Gently she sets Kova back down to the floor, giving his head a final scratch, smiling and murmuring her appreciation for what he's done. It helped a little, it really did. Maybe she needs to think about re-learning the Familiar spell or something. For moments like these. She can't risk being seen in this state on Taako's ship, so relying on Kova for it isn't a great idea. Something to worry about later.

For now she reaches into her bag and touches her spell components, gripping her focus and closing her eyes. A wave of magic passes over her form, her body shrinking, limbs shifting- until the smooth-furred form of a mongoose is in her place. She shakes herself off, getting used to the new body, and trots over to Kova. First she rubs gratefully against him as animals do, then playfully bats at his face and runs off. He can go back to them if he likes, or he can follow, but she wants to run around and take her mind off of things, and animals are much quieter than the clomping heels of her pirate costume.]

[Kova can also tell that there's no longer an argument, but... he's still not feeling too inclined toward returning toward the pair. Lup's change surprises him, but he adjusts easily--he's an ancient space cat, he's seen weirder--and takes off after her playfully once she's sprinted away. Light scampering around indeed. Maybe they'll find Cat-mom's new homebrew roomba along the way and chase it around.

As for said Cat-mom, there's something... well... touching about Taako's laughter, after how heavy their conversation had become. She hadn't known what his reaction would be, truthfully--it was... trying something else. It felt strange, for the tone to shift so abruptly, but better to leave the dark topics for further pondering, unless it came up again.

And... she almost really can't help it, but there's a quick flash of a grin at his words, a dark chuckle.]

If I had only known that was all it would have taken to be pronounced living.

[He's about to answer when he hears animals scampering away and he turns, catching the tail end of Kova chasing something down the hall. He could have sworn it was a mongoose? But they weren't in space and he's pretty certain Kova is the only animal on the First Breath. ..maybe a space rodent? He'd heard those exist.]

Sense of humor is essential to living, duh. I'll have to tell Lup about this. She'll hate herself for missing it.

[And missing out on Haggar's head turning colors. That is always a fun little extra, even if she won't acknowledge it.]

You should lighten up some, Dear Crabby. Might make people think you're less of a wet blanket.

[Her gaze shifts toward the sounds of the scampering, but at least it explained what had distracted the cat...? Probably. Hm. There was something ...]

How disappointing for her. I am surprised that you were not already together.

[Seemed the perfect sort of ambush for the two of them, really.]

Being a wet blanket is not the worst people think of me.

[But when you were a person stuck under ten thousand years of not really living? It was a miracle she could even scrape the surface with a pinky.]

We're not attached at the hip - we shouldn't be anyway. I'm technically not supposed to talk to her, but fuck that - she's fun and it's not like the Director can get all pissy from another reality.

[He shrugs and twirls a strand of hair around his finger idly. There's a lot the Director hasn't told him and if his theory about there being a second Voidfish is true, there's a lot she has to answer for still.]

Maybe if you weren't a wet blanket, then people would be less inclined to call you other shitty things, too. Ever thought of that?

...Are you not family.

[Not that family means they should be attached at the hip, but she does find that "technically" interesting. If he would acknowledge it, anyway.

As for his assessment, she laughs, again, but it's not nearly as jovial as before.]

Perhaps I had not thought of it. Does my bearing offend you that much.

["...Are you not shrrrkkkk."

Taako winces as the burst of loud static eats the last word. Of course. Whatever it is they're talking about it's obvious as shit to everyone, but him. Of fucking course. Gods be damned he hates the fucking Voidfish right now. It's not even its fault. He drank its nasty piss/tank/ichor water and he's still missing parts of whatever it is they're talking about.

It's easier just to not acknowledge she said anything at all though, so he waves his hand dismissively when she laughs mirthlessly.]

I call you names because you won't give me one - simple as that. Other than your refusal to make Lup some dino-mitts now, we're cool.

[It is very telling when he ignores what she has said entirely that something was amiss, after wincing like that. Telling of what, exactly, she's not certain.]

If you require a standard pain reliever, I can bring you one. It will not turn your hair colors, unlike your candy.

[She knows what he thinks of her medicine offers, but hey, she dropped some acknowledgement of his handiwork, surely there's points somewhere.]

I harbor no desire to be called by that name... and my other, I am not ready to use yet. That is why I allow you to make up names as you do.

[He waves her offer away, shaking his head. He'd rather pretend nothing was wrong than to acknowledge that whatever she said bothered him.]

I'm fine - you can keep your weird medicines to yourself.

[Whatever reasons she has not to give him a name are fine with him. He's been enjoying giving her a new name every time they meet. It's a challenge to him, a race to see which of them gives up first.]

Well, whatever name you have, Creeptastic, just know that I'll probably ignore it from now on. You've gone too long without a real one, so it's gonna be hard to break the habit.

[Well, she will allow him a small smirk for that.]

I expected to hear as much.

[Perhaps she would never tell him. Not that she's really spiting anyone but herself with that.]

But... I have taken much of your time already. Perhaps a change of atmosphere would suit you and your gifts better. A location with a wider audience.

[A nod to the floating bowl. Mostly because... she can hear sounds of Kova running amok with another "animal" and the sad sounds of one of her new robots making whimpering noises in the distance.]

The rest of the feet could surely use some... new color as well.

Oh, trust me, we got it covered.

[He and Lup have been busy spreading the holiday cheer around as much as possible, while simultaneously making sure no one knows it's them doing it. It's probably obvious. Who else would enchant candy to turn people weird colors? But at least they're usually not there when it happens.]

But one thing before I go? Scowl for the camera!

[He whips his communicator out and snaps a picture of Haggar with it.]

Thanks. Bye!

[And he's going to book it before she can get mad at him for taking photo evidence.]

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Halloween Mingle!

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