Halloween Party, Creepy But Nowhere Near Abandoned Mansion, Tuesday Night

[deathsmajesty]

After basically being dared to do it by Tony Stark (and putting in six weeks of renovations, bless Hannibal for the contractor), Liliana, dressed as an empress, hair pulled back in a profusion of curls by her angelic headpiece, was ready to throw her first Fandom party. Sure, it was for a holiday she didn't really understand, but she'd heard enough about it to make due: there was supposed to be candy and people were supposed to be in costume. Done. Everything else was just the same as a regular party, right?

Granted, the last party she'd hosted had actually been for a bunch of vampires and that had been seventy years ago on a completely different plane, but bah, details. You had food to eat, music to dance to, dark corners to sneak off to, and either enough witty people or enough alcohol to keep the conversation flowing. Liliana was hoping that there would be plenty of the former showing up, but just in case, she'd made sure to stock plenty of the latter.

Though her newly refurbished ballroom was actually very light and airy, she had done her best to recreate some of the spookiest elements she'd seen in her travels. The dancefloor was covered in about a foot of heavy fog that swirled and eddied with every movement. While most of the chandeliers were shrouded in fabric and false webbing, she personally found the main chandelier was decorated in something she much more unnerving. Black and red candles flickered about the room held by ghostly hands, dripping skulls, and the occasional elegant standing candelabra. One of the few concessions to magic she'd used tonight was to have the candles lit with tongues of false fire, which provided light but no heat. And they glowed blues and greens and purples, which was a nice effect. Red roses were placed upside down in vases, while more questionable arrangements sat in decorative vases. Out of deference to her guests' squeamishness sensibilities, all creepy critters, skeletons, and dead bodies were all cunningly crafted fakes, not a single real bone or drop of blood in the place.

Other than, of course, what her guests brought in with them. And should they leave with fewer of either than they'd come in with, well, that was hardly her fault. Probably.

Arrive and Mingle / Photos / Dark Corners [NFB] / Refreshments / Dance / Gardens / OOC

[Please hold for OCD up! Do the thing!]

Comments

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"Agreed," Steven said. "You know, we could get those done outside of parties as well. I'm sure Liz and Prompto would be happy to set up an appointment, assuming appointments are how that's done."

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[deathsmajesty]

That hand was joined by the other as she pulled his face in for another, deeper kiss. "Well, I can't have that," she said. "You should come find me. You have rights to my time, too."

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[deathsmajesty]

"Because I like the cool silence of midnight," she said softly. "The starry sky overhead like a pathway leading to other worlds, like the Blind Eternities made manifest."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"Oh I'll have to have a look at that, it mightn't be a bad idea for Rain to have a couple of higher places she can get to once Noctra starts crawling," Liz considered, "I'm sure Rain would appreciate the shelves,"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"It occurs to me Prompto might know about them already," Steven said. "I know you can get them in pet shops. He might know where to order some if he doesn't already have them in stock.

"Oh - speaking of you and yours in a professional capacity," Steven said. He gestured to where Llewellyn was not far away. "Would it be possible to get a professional portrait of me and Llewellyn? Not tonight - well, actually also tonight. But, er, in addition? How does that work, do we make an appointment to come to your shop? Or you come to us? Or...?"

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

“Oh!” Watts snapped his fingers as something occurred to him. “With Raphael too, do you think?”

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"Oh that'd be lovely," Steven said. "I'd like that. I'd like it a great deal, actually. Him and his little tie, perhaps?"

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

“For a formal portrait? Of course,” Watts agreed.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis' hands found Liliana's face, as well, in a mirror of her own placement, but his was not just to help kiss her (although he did do that, too). It was more just so that he could hold it there, since he could not hold her gaze to convey the intent in this next words.

"No one," he said, "has a right to your anything, Liliana Vess."

Especially not three pesky daemons, who were going to be taken care of.

"But I will come find you."

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

Steven was looking at Llewellyn rather besottedly.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[sword_chocobro]

"Well, you can enjoy that, too," said Gladio, who clearly couldn't help himself. "Who even needs more that four hours of sleep, anyway?"

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

“What is it?” Watts couldn’t help but ask.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"A formal portrait of the three of us," Steven said. "It's sweet."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"I'll have to ask Prompto about them then when I get home," Liz considered and then smiled, "and of course we can do a professional portrait," she told him, "we haven't actually had any requests for a portrait but we could set it up at the Photo Hut, we can get a nice background set up at the store if that would work?"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Could we include Raphael as well?" Steven asked. "At the shop? Llewellyn had the brilliant idea it could be the three of us. Er - him and me and Raphael, that is,"

Since you did have to get more specific about which three, given who was currently talking.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana raised her hand. "I am a delicate hothouse flower," she informed him. With a straight face, even. "Fragile and wiling, and in need of a great deal of sleep to bolster my wavering constitution."

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

“Well, we are his ‘cat-dads’ as you say, of course we ought to have a formal portrait,” Watts said.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"I would love it," Steven said. "I can ask Liz about it if you like? See what we'd need to do?"

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"Of course," Liz smiled, "you can definitely have Raphael in the photo, let me know when you would like to have the portrait done and I'll come up with some backgrounds that you can choose from for your portrait,"

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[deathsmajesty]

For a brief moment, Liliana's breathing just...stopped. She looked at him, eyes wide and wondering, mouth a perfect 'o' of surprise.

She'd meant it lightly, of course. Simply that he needn't keep himself apart from her in deference to the other guests. That she liked it when he sought her out.

But his response. He'd been so serious, cutting through that idle phrasing with intensity and fervor. Like it was so important, so precious, that he would stand up for it, even if she did not.

If anyone had ever done that for her before, she could not remember it.

"Ignis..." she whispered, and nothing more. His name was the only word she could summon. "Ignis."

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[pocketpretzels]

"Oh, please," Watts said, pressing a quick kiss to Steven's cheek. "Thank you."

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Brilliant," Steven said. "And a couple of handwavily done photos of him and me tonight, if that's all right?"

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[hasaknightjob]

"It's no trouble," Steven assured him. He gave Llewellyn's hand another squeeze. "I've been meaning to catch up with her anyway. Feels like every time I intend to stop by when she's working something gets in the way."

Re: Photos

[deathsmajesty]

"Prompto is a delightful source of information," Liliana confided. "It's how I know much of what I do about Ignis."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled, "of course, I can definitely take some photos of you and Detective Watts tonight," she assured him.