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

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

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!]

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"Noted," Tony said, pushing his mask up for a proper kiss.

"What can I say? I was always a fan of the knight in shining armor."

Which should shock absolutely no one with the whole Iron Man thing.

"The place looks lovely."

"I may end up wearing it yet," Nell said with a smile. "He'd much rather be shirtless anyway."

As soon as Liliana's hand found Ignis', that tension immediately seemed to relax and dissipate. A particularly keen observer might have even caught the incredibly faint breath of relief escaping the subtle part in his lips. A bit foolish, perhaps, but the assurance of exactly what his place in all of this was perhaps more needed than he'd initially realized.

He nodded, an acknowledgement to her gratitude but a suggestion that he needed to even think of saying so was wholly unnecessary, as he gave her hand a squeeze.

"If that mere shadow manages to survive the night," he said, "then I believe some very well-earned recovery time shall be in order."

And you knew it was well-earned if even Ignis was suggesting it!

"Oh! The store with the most intriguing window displays!" Liliana declared, because discretion was a sometimes game and now wasn't 'sometimes.' "I've seen it once or twice, but usually en route somewhere else. Now I'll need to make a point of dropping by for a visit. And if you're curious about magic, you simply must come by the Infinite Consortium. I sell magical artifacts and would certainly be happy to find you something magic of your very own."

A bartender brought them over two glasses on a tray and, trying very hard to look at Irene respectfully. "Are you aware in general of what a necromancer does?" she asked, sipping her wine with amusement.

"Doesn't bother me the slightest," Nell said honestly. Her few interactions with Irene had all been positive. "And I did enjoy your company the last time you stopped by."

“I am here for whatever you need,” Watts said, answering Steven’s unspoken question by tilting his head downwards slightly to meet him in the middle.

"I don't want to go anywhere after that," Nell admitted. "I just want to stay right here all comfortable on the island the way it should be."

Of course, she'd always been a bit of a homebody, partly by lack of options, but she also did truly love her own spaces.

"I've seen worse views," Liliana said with a shrug and an amused smile, though his physique wasn't her particular cup of tea. She preferred lithe, to the likely surprise of literally no one. "Though there are a distinct lack of ladies who share his preference for shirtlessness and that is a disappointment. Simply for parity, if nothing else."

Steven kissed him, keeping it light and quick, but a kiss all the same. "I needed that, so thank you. Thank you for being here with me as well. I mean - obviously you would. You're my date. But staying close. Thank you."

"Oh, they're terribly wild and overgrown," Liliana explained. "I haven't gotten anyone in to landscape, yet. There's the remains of a maze, I think, and a broken down greenhouse, all of which I'm declaring atmospheric and intentional."

"Thank you," Liliana preened. "I am pleased with how it turned out. And keeping you all guessing whether I've decorated it for the holiday or if this is my natural aesthetic."

“Of course, darling,” Watts said. “And we needn’t stay a minute longer than you should care to.”

"Oooh!" Now he truly had Liliana's attention. "Ignis brought me a bottle--" half of one "--from New Zealand that I've positively fallen in love with. What did you bring? Reds? Whites? Do tell, darling."

"Doing all right so far," Steven said. "Not too bad yet. I promise I will say if I need to leave. Or get some fresh air."

Apparently there was a garden area available for that very thing!

"I see," Steven said. "Well, perhaps I'll have a look later all the same. It's nice there's a place to get some fresh air if needed. Not that this isn't wonderful but sometimes - sometimes a little quiet can be nice as well. So cheers for that."

She slid her arm through his and leaned against him briefly, letting him support her weight for just a moment, finding a subtle moment of refuge in him before she went back to being the effervescent hostess. "Careful about your promises," she murmured. "Or I shall end up demanding to be even more pampered and spoiled than I already am. Baths...backrubs...breakfasts in bed..."

“Good,” Watts said firmly. “Take care of yourself first and foremost, everything else is secondary.”

"No." Stark shook his head. "I don't think I'm anyone in particular. Just an... archer."

To match someone else who looked better in her costume than he did, of course.

"Odin is a god?"

That tracked for Margo.

Steven smiled at him. "Easier to do when you've a beau who will catch you if you need it. Don't know that I could have come on my own. Well, as much as I'm ever on my own."

Though considering Marc and parties it would've probably still been very much alone.

Darling, what on any plane at all made you think Liliana ever fought fair?

"He was explaining about the magic in crystals and how only the royalty can use it, which led to him naming all of the gods, and..." Here Liliana went on for easily a minute or so, summarizing everything Ignis had told her in the Waffle House and offering up several of her questions as well. "So, if Ramuh, Shiva, and Ifrit's are represented by the magic within the crystals and, I suppose, one could argue that Titan is represented by crystals themselves, then where is the Leviathan's element? How are these crystals even created in the first place? How is their power extracted? Are the royals somehow connected to Bahamut that they can use the magic? And how does that fit in with the Starscourge?"

On the off-chance Gladio had been assuming Liliana was just blowing smoke up his ass about all this, her clear curiosity likely put that ridiculous notion to rest.

Edited 2023-10-31 20:22 (UTC)

"I suppose there is that as well," Steven said. "Comfort of the familiar. Known."

Steven could certainly appreciate that at the moment.

"Also nice to get back home and to your own bed, yeah?" Steven said. "Hotels are nice but not the same."

Liliana gestured towards the open doors everyone had come in through. "They're there for whenever you fancy a turn," she said. "There's a lovely little pavilion that's lit up if you'd like a place to rest, and then the full gardens themselves if you'd rather stretch your legs, darling."

"Cheers," Steven said. "And you? Are you doing all right after - all of it?"

Steven knew mainly what Marc had passed along to him and Marc tended to skimp on details for the bottom line of things like "She's alive so she's fine."

Well, he wasn't wrong. Ish. By this point, there was nothing wrong with her that hadn't already been!

"After all--ah." What did it say that her first thought had been about the past week's events and she had been very close to prattling excitedly on about blighting the Walmart? "I have fully recovered," she said. "The week afterwards was admittedly trying as I am not best pleased with feeling weak or helpless--" Which she'd absolutely been, but best of luck getting her to admit it "--but that passed and I recovered. I spent the last few days flitting about the Multiverse preparing for the party like nothing had ever been wrong."

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

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