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

[special_rabbit]

And Amaya, for her part, didn't recognize Irene really until she spoke, which, really, didn't that sort of mean they were winning at this whole Halloween thing? Her dress, however (and the whole look overall, really), seemed incredibly familiar to her for some reason she couldn't quite put her bony metal finger on, and she was squinting at it trying to figure it out when Irene approached.

"And aren't you not," she noted, blinking a moment to consider the costume now with newly appreciative eyes.

"Looks nice, though," she added, with a little red seeming to glow a bit under her mask.

Still couldn't shake that odd feeling like she'd seen this dress before.

Or at least she thought she had.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[begmetwice]

Probably just in Irene's closet! Where else would she have seen it? On her own person, as part of a venom-induced hallucination? Crazy talk.

"Thanks," Irene replied with a wide smile, because she knew she looked great (but also ridiculous.) "It's making me consider whether red might not be a nice change for summer, next year."

This was delivered with a little pat to her wig, so it was clear she meant her hair and not the dress, but her hand also went quickly enough from that wig to the metallic structure covering Amaya's back. Irene did so love an excuse to touch in public, and she figured that running a curious, gloved finger along that metallic frame provided enough plausible deniability, right?

"And you've outdone yourself." Because really, she should have expected something cool from Amaya, and that's what this was: it wasn't intentionally sexy, or campy, or even all that scary -- it was fucking cool.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[special_rabbit]

"Oh, well, I think that'd be a pretty hard task to pull off; Summer does seem pretty set on her pink."

The pat of the wig, it would seem, was futile, since Amaya clearly hadn't thought of hair or dress, but, in her defense, she was a bit, erm, distracted.

"But!" she added hastily, the hand at her back not helping the red she was sporting very mich, but let's be honest, she didn't make all these pieces for them to go unadmired, either! "It looks very good on you, too. And I don't know about outdoing myself, but it did seem like a bit of a stroke of genius, right? Especially since I can't really do armor anymore, had to really think outside the box this time.

"Or I guess...inside the skin, maybe?"

Look, she tried.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[begmetwice]

"Your creative process continues to fascinate me, either way," Irene assured her with a little laugh, enjoying the absolute hell out of the blush she could see under that mask, yes. "But, see, that's an idea -- I wouldn't mind wearing armor for a night. I should've thought to commission something with you weeks ago. A Viking shieldmaiden or lady knight, or something. Sexy chainmail. Maybe next year."

For the record, this was the third potential costume for next year that had been floated this evening.

"Or," she noted, dropping her voice as she lightly traced up along the bone gracing Amaya's shoulder, "just for fun, sooner than that."

Just to, you know, plant a few seeds for upcoming holidays, Valentine's Days, long winter nights, et cetera.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[special_rabbit]

"Chainmail shouldn't be sexy," said Amaya, although there seemed to be a certain sense of...obligation to it, really, like she couldn't look herself in the mirror anymore if she didn't at least mention it. That hand on her shoulder, though, was really doing a lot to just suck the vehemence right out of it, "it should be practical, and that goes the same for all sorts of armor, really. That said....almost everyone should have a good bit of armor on hand, regardless. For...reasons."

She tried to come up with something a little more specific.

"...armored reasons."

Tried was the operative word there.

Re: (Eventually) Arrive and Mingle

[begmetwice]

"Amaya," Irene murmured, stepping a little closer to make up for the loss in projection and volume (and not for any other reason, of course), "are you suggesting I couldn't make perfectly practical chainmail look sexy?"

Granted, Irene had been envisioning something more akin to what, say, Summer was wearing, except in fetching chainmail -- but that was now beside the point.