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: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

Photos or not, Steven did want to see Liz. So at some point in the evening he made his way over to her. Though his manner was more subdued than it usually was at parties, he still looked pleased to see her.

"Liz, hello! Are you busy working? I don't mean to interrupt."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

“Steven hi,” Liz smiled, “and you’re not interrupting,” she assured him, “I can take a break now,” she added.

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Wonderful," Steven said. "It's good to see you. I keep meaning to pop by the Photo Hut to say hello but real life keeps messing it up you know how it is with island strangeness and travel and the like. You're well? Noctra enjoy her first Halloween?"

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

“Same here, we ended up heading home last week when we weren’t sure how things were going to go,” Liz told him, “but Noctra’s been enjoying Halloween, she’s at home with Prompto while I work here for the evening,” she said, “how have you been going?”

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"I wondered where he was," Steven said, since he hadn't been fully certain if he just hadn't spotted Prompto in the crowd, especially with everyone in costume. "And, er, you know. Got back from holiday. Returned to all that strangeness. Been... interesting."

It was times like this when Steven especially regretted that he hadn't been able to go visit Liz as often as he would have liked. He wouldn't have minded getting her thoughts on some of the things going on with him but a party was not the place for it on several levels.

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"Oh how was your holiday?" Liz asked, "I know most of the school went off to New Zealand, it would be a wonderful place to visit one day," she said, "and last week was definitely rather strange, the Photo Hut turned into a Staples, that was definitely new,"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Llewellyn and I went to Peru," Steven said. "He planned the most amazing holiday. Thought of all the details. Didn't get back until about midweek, though, when everything had already started changing. Luckily Midnight and the Museum were all right. Blathers had some strange offers about educational programs but no other problems that I'm aware of. Suppose I can't blame you for wanting to get away, it being your home getting changed and all."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"Oh I'm glad you and Detective Watts had a really nice holiday," Liz smiled, "it definitely took some getting used to but I think everything is back where its supposed to be, I haven't done a full inventory yet to see if anything's missing but I think everything's changed back but it was nice going back to the BPRD for a few days even if it wasn't planned,, I know Noctra enjoyed getting to visit,"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"I'm sure they loved seeing her," Steven said. "Growing like a weed, I imagine. Hard to believe we're coming up on a year before we know it."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"They did, she really loves Hellboy, she's really taken to him, I think sometimes we're not going to be able to get her to leave," Liz smiled fondly, "she's growing so fast, she's over eight months old now, I still can't believe it,"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Don't suppose you have any pictures?" Steven asked, looking hopeful. Or at least as hopeful as could be seen while he was wearing a bird mask covering half his face.

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

Liz smiled, "of course," she assured him and got out her phone, she brought up her photos so she could show him, "there's quite a few of Noctra and Hellboy there and with the cats as well," she said as she handed over her phone.

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

Steven pushed his mask up, then patted himself down to find his glasses. He put those on then took Liz's mobile so he could see. "Oh that's precious that is. Look at her and all those cats. She must've been having the time of her life."

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

"She really was, its going to be interesting once she starts crawling," Liz smiled, "she's going to be all over the cats when that happens, I don't think Rain has any idea what's coming when that does,"

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Can she go up?" Steven asked. He handed Liz her mobile back and put his glasses away before he forgot. "Onto a shelf of some sort? Get out of the reach of tiny hands?"

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

Liz took her phone back and put it away, "once Rain realises what's happening she's probably going to try and make herself as scarce as possible, I think she's going to be liking higher places once that happens," she said with a fond smile.

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"At home Raphael has little cat shelves?" Steven said. He held out his hands to indicate shelves put on walls at various heights. "Midnight makes them for him. He can go from room to room without his paws touching the floor if he's in the mood for it. Might be too much for your flat but maybe one or two might come in handy? Give him a perch to safely watch from?"

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: 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: 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: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

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

Re: Photos

[flamesburned]

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

Re: Photos

[hasaknightjob]

"Wonderful," Steven said. He smiled. "I'm glad you were here tonight. It's a bugger how real life things keep coming up to get in the way of a visit."