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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"Yes, well." Jon smiled awkwardly. "I don't get out much, but Summer frowns if I don't try to make it to parties. She was my, um. Mentor, I suppose you'd say, when I first arrived here."

"...Your mentor?" Liliana asked, head tilting. "In what way? Are you also a bartender?"

"Oh, god, no." Interacting with people all night sounded a bit like Hell to Jon. "I'm a teacher. She teaches, too. I ended up here not expecting to be...well, anywhere, really. The school assigned her to help me. She's...she's terrifyingly good at it."

"At teaching? Or at mentoring you to teach?" Liliana was intrigued; she hadn't really expected either to be within Summer's purview. "What are her views on pedagogy?"

"I don't know if she has any formalized views," Jon said. "She was very good at, um, explaining this place and helping me settle in, I suppose. And she doesn't approve when I stay at home too much."

Sometimes Jon needed the thought of someone's disapproval to motivate him. He was aware he had issues.

"That, I can see," Liliana replied. "She was very useful and setting up my phone. And reading in between some of the lines, I believe she's chivvied Ignis to get up and out of the house from time to time as well."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Jon said. "She's very...um...social."

"And you are not," Liliana noted. "What is it that you do instead?"

"I...well, I-I teach," Jon answered. "And I, um. I have a cat, as you know. She's lovely. And, um. I like to watch documentaries. And read. And sometimes the building I manage needs things done."

He was a workaholic with very little work to do, Liliana. The man needed hobbies and was bad at getting them.

"Issa," Liliana remembered. "Yes, I remember her."

She eyed him. Even as a giant nerd, that didn't sound like a whole lot to do. "How do you feel about magical artifacts?"

"They're dangerous as hell and should all be burnt," Jon answered immediately. "Except for the Desolation ones; they'd enjoy that."

He belatedly remembered what Liliana's business was. "Oh. Um. Possibly...possibly not everywhere. In my world, they, um. Well, th-there's no such thing as an...an innocuous or helpful artifact. I imagine it could be different other places. Just, um. I'm used to...to everything coming from the Fears." He fidgeted. "Sorry. No offense meant."

"None taken," Liliana assured him. And she was being honest - she was no artificer and besides, watching his reaction was far more interesting. "All things created bear the stamp of their maker. There are plenty of artifacts out there that carry the malice and ill-will they were made with."

Jon winced. "Still, as I said, where I come from, they're all malicious. All artifacts, all...powers, or magic, or beings, or what have you. None of them come from anything good. I...I do realize it's apparently not like that for everyone here. It's just been difficult to get used to."

"Are you a Jedi?" Liliana asked, intrigued.

"A wh...um, no?" Jon was very confused now. "Why would...um. I'm not sure why you'd assume that."

"I talked to Lana and I know that Jedi see some power as being inherently evil and corrupting," Liliana said. "I know some people also have that view of black mana--" She rolled her eyes "--but I don't believe you're from anywhere that has the same idea of mana that I do. Which leaves me with Jedi."

"No, I'm, um. I'm from Ear- well, a version of Earth. I just." He took a deep breath and let it out. "There are the Fears. They're the only powers there. They...they embody and feed on and generate fear. Every sort of power comes from them, and thrives on traumatizing people. Nothing good ever comes from them."

It seemed best to not point out that Liliana found fear to be a very effective tool in her own arsenal.

"If it helps any," she said instead, "where I am from, our magic comes from the land itself. A sign of rich, healthy, thriving land. It can be used for good or evil as all tools can, but it just is the same way a river is or a mountain."

Jon nodded. "I...as I said, I'm aware it's different for other people. I just...well, it's one thing to know it and..." He huffed in a sort of bitter laugh as he realized. You who watch and know and understand none. "It's one thing to know and another to really understand and internalize it. It's...difficult. But I am trying."

Liliana shrugged. "We are made up of our experiences, and experiences cut deep," she said, dismissing his insistence he was trying not as unimportant but unnecessary. "I am a lethemancer and I can assure you, the memories of things someone has learned are nowhere as deep or complex as that which they have experienced."

Especially traumatically.

"I...I'm familiar." Jon had the marks to prove it. "Are...um. Lethemancer sounds like you make people forget things."

"Indeed," Liliana said. "It's an aspect of necromancy. I can go into your mind and remove memories, either dispersing them into the aether or keeping them for myself. It's not an aspect I practice often, but I'm well-versed in it."

"That sounds...tremendously tempting," Jon admitted. "If inadvisable."

Liliana gave him a catlike smile. "That's how most people would categorize interacting with me at all, darling, so thank you."

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

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