ic Monster Mash

[Almilee]

"Wooooaaaaahhhh..." Jimmy's jaw all but dropped as wings appeared on Phae's back. Then, he cocked his head to the side, realizing there had been blood. "Woah, woah, wait. How'd you do that? Does it hurt? Are they real? Is it uncomfortable when you have them cooped up for a while?" Questions spilled out of his mouth like prison escapees, without giving anyone time to react between each one.

 

He had a moment of glumness when he realized that there were already at least two people around who'd demonstrated their abilities. He wanted to show his off, and get some cool reactions of his own, but that would ruin the party for him (and probably a few other people too). Instead he settled for living vicariously through others. "Is it hard? Hiding them, I mean, and then pulling them back out again. Or, actually, which one is the default, not having wings, or having them?" And what had she meant with the weird comment about the costume being accurate to a degree?

[TheRedGuy]

As he flew through the chilly night air in his luchador outfit, Aníbal began to regret having chosen a costume that left his torso at the mercy of the elements. It was a last second switch. He had planned to go as a vampire, a stodgy but classical choice, but decided against it after overhearing some students talking about Jack's peculiar heritage. That would have been awkward, and he certainly had no intention to inadvertently offend the host. His costume was authentic, shipped overnight by a specialist company from Mexico. A blue and gold mask decorated with elaborate designs covered the upper half of his face. He wore a blue cape, the inside painted with shiny golden thunderbolts. His torso was bare, the costume nicely showing off his physique. Blue spandex tights and golden wrestling boots completed the look, and the final touch was a showy wrestling belt proclaimed him Campeón Mundial Crucero. He landed in the middle of a road in North Bay and wrapped his cape around himself for warmth, cursing himself for not calling Julio and driving instead. Now, where was he? The area was unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. He had never been here before, but it reminded him of home. This was where the rich people lived - people like him. He took out the scroll, unfolded it and tried to locate the mystery manor of Jack's parents. It took some fumbling, but eventually he found himself on the right path, walking down a creepy driveway towards an ancient-looking house. A light flickered in the distance, then disappeared. He wasn't sure but he thought he could see some figures in the distance. This must be it, he thought, and made his way forward at a brisk pace. Surely, inside would be a lot more comfortable. Truth be told, it wasn't that cold, but he still had to get used to Jersey weather.

 

Finally, he made it to the door of the mansion and pressed his ear against the door. There were noises coming from inside, what sounded like people talking. Aníbal considered knocking, but instead pressed on the handles of the massive oak doors, pushing them open with an ominous creak and making his way inside. The warmth of the interior was invigorating. People had already moved on from the foyer into one of the interior rooms. A few seconds later, he swooped into the sitting room, carried by the winds. He levitated about four feet away from the floor and struck a pose worthy of a Campeón Mundial before landing.

 

"Evening everyone! Sorry I'm late, it's hard to navigate around the city in the dark.", he said with a cheerful grin. He nodded in greeting to the guests. Some of them were familiar faces, some of them he only knew by sight, and others he knew not at all. The girl with the wings - that was new. He scanned the group, noticing a familiar face. There she was. He made his way over to Raina and flashed her a pleasant smile.

 

"Raina! That's... That's an amazing costume. You look stunning.", he looked her over, his eyes lingering a bit too long on her legs. He noted with some concern the heels made her tower several inches over him, but quickly pulled himself together.

Edited November 2, 2015 by TheRedGuy

[Electra]

Raina had been slightly nettled when the boys had paid all their attention to the new girl, Fay-something, and barely even noticed her own costume. She'd worked for ages on the damn thing, even done a little glamour on herself despite Merlin's teasing, and all for basically naught. Her attention was diverted, however, by the rush of wings from the new girl's back, accompanied by the scent of a familiar sort of magic. Another magic-user, definitely, and maybe somebody who wouldn't be quite so uptight. It had potential! Raina wondered if the girl might have any books. She was definitely going to have to see if Huange had a library in this dripping-with-magic spooky house. 

 

Her brightening mood was further improved when Anibal arrived, looking positively lickable in his shirtless outfit. She smiled and blushed at his compliments, which suddenly made all the effort seem worth it. "Thanks, I figured I'd do a come-as-you-are night. You're looking pretty amazing yourself. That's a luchador costume, right?" 

[Fox]

"That's, uh. Pretty cool," Matt admitted, drawing back his hood a little bit so he could lean over for a better angle on the wings without having it flop in front of his eyes. "Can you fly with those?" he asked. "Gotta say I'm a little jealous, if you can. Growing up around here - uh, not here, here's a little nicer than where I grew up, you know - growing up around here, flight's always the iconic one, you know? The power you always wish you had, if you have 'em. Or if you don't."

There was a soft scraping sound; his dog had circled around behind the new arrival to sniff at the blood, and had scraped its nails on the floor to get Matt's attention. "....yeah. Little messy though, I guess. Do your ghosts clean that up, Huang? I feel bad for 'em."

[alderwitch]

Robin's expression turned to confusion at Huang's response, "Oh, uh," she said but fortunately finding any polite response was mitigated by the other teenagers. She turned towards Phae just in time to catch the spatter of blood droplets. The muscles under Riley's hand tensed into rock hard wariness as her party mood was briefly subsumed under threat assessment. She had take one step forward, her fingers curling into a solid fist only to realize that there was nothing remotely untoward going on. Just,  you know, more Claremont weirdness. Coughing once, she took a quick step backwards practically into Riley. Her cheeks flushed and Robin ducked her head in embarrassment. Hopefully her over-reaction was hidden in everyone else's excitement. "You need a hand with your stuff?" She said, turning away to ask Riley in an undertone.

[angrydurf]

Huang smiled at Winnifred, "I am a man of many mysteries."  he assured her with a friendly grin though attempted to stay on the reserved side of flirty, which to the displaced victorian likely seemed terribly forward.  He quirked a brow at Phaedras revelation and though he'd expect the reveal of demonic heritages to be somewhere in the 'I can't feel my legs' call and response state of terlet gin induced relaxation he was happy to have it happen sooner, "Hybrid?"  he questioned rhetorically then frowned as he recalled the stories of her rather noteworthy arrival, "Celestial and infernal."  he pondered aloud, "very groovy."  that's what kids say now right well hopefully it would sound like it was used ironically if it was anachronistic.

 

When the doors whooshed open with grandiose winds he was briefly taken aback as that was to be fair the chosen idiom of his erstwhile antecedent of wallachian fame but it was Anibal in full lucha splendor, and given the rippling abs on display full and splendor definitely applied, "Well the party is started now."  he greeted warmly and briefly watched the interplay betwixt the young mutant and Raina stepping back as he well knew better than to contest with a witch in romantic endeavors, that was a good way to get hexed with all manner of unpleasantness.

[Avenger Assembled]

Riley had watched Phaedra with only moderate interest - it wasn't that her wings weren't cool, really, just that he'd seen people do plenty weirder things around Earth-Prime. "Be nice, Jimmy," he called, "she probably gets enough questions about those." He added a smile to show the other boy he didn't mean it so much, then gave Robin a quick nod.  "Let's go." He and Robin headed straight for the manor's kitchen, following the directions given them by Huang. As soon as the swinging doors closed behind them, he put his arms around her and gave her a tight squeeze, hands around her stomach. "Baby, you look freakin' hot," he told her, with rather more fire of his own than he'd been willing to show in front of the others. "Let's get the stuff." 

 

The bottles in the fridge, carefully placed there by Huang after his parents had left, were repurposed glassware that Riley had used his pocket money to buy from a shop in Bayview. Their contents were dark and fizzy, and light and fizzy, respectively. "That 'ne's blackberry," said Riley, pointing to one, "and that one's lemonade. Man, you know it took less than a week to make both a' these?" he marveled as they got the two bottles out. "Woulda taken months back home to make anything that wasn't rotgut. But I think you'll like this. You want first taste?" he offered her. 

[alderwitch]

This time, Robin's faint flush was with pleasure and she leaned in to press a quick kiss of appreciation to Riley's lips for the compliment. "Thanks, I hoped you'd like it. Not sure what else I'd ever wear a get up like this to, even." She laughed before reaching out to pick up one of the glassware jugs, lifting it with ease. She could have taken both easily but was reasonably certain Riley would not have appreciated her carrying both back and leaving him empty handed. "Sure, I'm willing to go first," Robin said without any sort of hesitation. She'd tried alcohol before this but hadn't cared much for the taste nor experienced the sort of fuzzy muzzy-headedness that her peers had and after the last few years of hard living, any pickiness she might have once had was rather eroded. "I've always liked lemonade so I'll go with that. Do you know where we're supposed to grab glasses from?" 

 

Robin glanced around the kitchen then to find the stack of cups and juggle them into her free hand, "Got 'em."

[April]

Phaedra recovered the horns she brought with her and settled them back on her head, which gave her time to consider--and reconsider--the answers to the sudden rush of questions that came her way.  The smile left her eyes, and they narrowed slightly, for a moment at Huang's comment but when nobody else picked up on it she relaxed.

 

"Yes, they're real," Phae said.  "And I can fly with them, though that's not really suitable for the indoors."  She shrugged, wings rising and falling.  "Keeping them hidden for any length of time feels like, well, say your arms were bound behind your back.  It's not painful, but uncomfortable."

[Avenger Assembled]

Riley poured a small glass of iced hard lemonade for Robin, and then after a moment's thought himself. He wasn't a drinker personally - but how could he avoid a toast with his fine lady? "Cheers," he said, raising his glass and clinking it against hers before tossing his head back for a long drink. The hard lemonade was fizzy and sweet, but he could certainly feel the kick of the alcohol inside. "Much better'n rotgut," he pronounced, giving Robin a cheerful grin. 

[Gizmo]

"Positively intriguing," Winifred murmured to herself, circling around behind Phaedra to get a better look at the wings before remembering her manners with an embarrassed cough. Stepping back where she could address the comely redhead face to face. "Ah, forgive my enthusiasm. It would be fair to say I have an unusually keen interest in physical transformation as of late. I'm sure you didn't come here to be the subject of staring." Noting the somewhat less scientific attention Phae and her costume attracted among the boys she admitted, "Though that may be unavoidable. Ahem. Are all of your limbs proportionally strong, then? If you don't mind my asking? I'd expect you to be in the same rough category as Robin, if so, in terms of sheer power."

[alderwitch]

Robin took a more cautious sip followed by another, "It's good," she assured Riley as she shifted the weight of the blackberry container to her hip, "It tasted different than regular lemonade but not like in a bad way. I like the fizz," Robin agreed as she took a few more sips from her cup. She offered Riley a reassuring sort of smile, "I think it'll be a hit with the other kids."

 

She turned back into the room to catch Fred's last line of questioning and laughed, "I'm not going to arm-wrestle Phaedra. That's asking for a table to get broken."

[TheRedGuy]

"Yes, it is.", Aníbal replied cheerily, "I loved watching lucha libre when I was a boy. My brother and I would wrestle when we were little. Once I nearly broke my neck trying to pull off a huracanrana,"

 

A smile briefly played on his lips as he recalled his childhood. "You know, I missed you. I mean, I see you around school but I wish we had more free time. Maybe we'll have to make some ourselves, no?".

 

He briefly turned his gaze towards the winged girl, who seemed to have successfully captured the spotlight at the party, and wondered about her story. Where did her powers come from? Where was she from? Few things could truly surprise him anymore. The school was filled with an assortment of oddballs, young people with strange and sometimes tragic stories. He had learned about the existence of parallel universes and strange dimensions, of magic and mysteries - things that were far from the ordinary experience of most people. It took some getting used to, but he always prided himself on his open-mindedness.

 

"Do you know the new girl?", he asked Raina, "She looks very impressive with those wings."

Edited November 9, 2015 by TheRedGuy

[Electra]

Raina was obviously pleased with Anibal's confession that he'd missed her, but that soon turned to pouting when he was as obviously taken with the new girl as everybody else. "No I do not," she replied, perhaps a bit more sharply than necessary. "She just showed up here, but I've never seen her before. Maybe she's somebody's cousin. You could introduce yourself, but you'll probably have to get in line. I'm going to go get some punch." Raina propped her broom against the wall and flounced away, an impressive effect in her heels and short skirt. 

[Avenger Assembled]

In one of the building's many living rooms, one covered in various antique maps of Freedom City, Raina found the punch where Robin and Riley were busy at work, the pair in the middle of filling red plastic cups with ice underneath a relief map on the wall of Freedom City's natural terrain. The regular punch was alongside where they were working, laid out in a big crystal bowl with faux-silver service that must have come from Huang's parents' stock, directly underneath an overhead map of post-Terminus invasion Freedom City.  The cups for the regular punch were black plastic. "Hey Sanderson," said Riley sociably, looking very pleased with himself as he started pouring into the red cups from one of two big, fizzy glass bottles. "Care to partake? We've got hard lemonade in this, and champagne in that." 

[Fox]

"Yeah, I get the uncomfortable thing," Matt mused, shrugging. Raina's flouncing earned a less than innocent stray look, but he kept himself...mostly under control. "Not, uh, me, I guess. But I hear it a lot from some other....hm." He paused, belatedly realizing that he'd lost track of his companion - the hood got pulled back long enough to do a quick scan of the room.

 

Moon, as it turned out, was sitting at Winifred's side, gazing up with transparently manipulative longing. Matt snorted in uncharacteristic humor, shaking his head. "You may as well give him something," he advised, amused, as his dog's tail thumped against the ground. "If you've even got anything. If you're lucky, maybe he'll agree to do a trick for the treat. Spirit of the season, or whatever."

[alderwitch]

"It's pretty good, I mean, I don't really drink much in general but it tastes at least as good as the other drinks that I've had," Robin offered her reassurances, aware at least that some of the kids were a little less on board with the entire concept of home-made alcohol. She gave Riley a small smile of approval and then turned to look at the assortment of maps with some interest, "Man, are all rich people's houses this weird?"

 

Robin gave a small shrug, only to finally realize that maybe Raina's night was not going as well as she wanted it too, Robin added in a quieter tone, "Oh, hey, everything okay?"

[Gizmo]

Catching the look Matt cast in Raina's direction, Winifred pursed her lips. "A gentleman should at least pretend at subtlety, Matthew," she chided in mild annoyance before turning back to the girl with the wings. "My pestering questions can wait, I'm sure. Smith and I prepared some beverages, if you'd like. I even ensured that he didn't add predator urine to the mixture." She paused for a beat then tilted her head to one side and adding, "That was a joke." Looking down to the hound she accommodatingly scratched behind his ears. "Come along, we'll see if there's anything suitable for canine tummies. At least you have an excuse for being ruled by your appetites." She gave Matt a pointed look as she led the way toward the snack bowls where Robin and Riley were setting up the drinks, though the psychopomp thought he might have caught the slightest hint of a smirk from the mannerly alchemist.

 

Catching to to Raina, she reached up to place a hand lightly on the taller girl's shoulder. "I've already had a word with Matthew about the leering," she assured the witch sympathetically. "I would be more than happy to speak to the other boys as well. I know you were looking forward to this evening, you should be able to enjoy it in peace." She shot Riley a stern look as she said it; he could be just about the most tryingly male person she knew. "How did the blackberry turn out?"

[Electra]

"Well, at least somebody noticed," Raina said with a much put-upon sigh. "I was starting to think I put on this whole outfit and all the glamour for nothing. Everybody's just staring at the new girl! What the hell is her deal, anyway?" she added, keeping her voice low enough not to travel far. "I mean, my costume may be cliche, but at least it's a classic. And it makes sense! The whole sexy angel with devil horns thing? Who even does that anymore?" Fuming with poorly concealed jealousy, she took the red cup Riley offered and took a swig, then immediately choked. "Mother of darkness, that's awful," she managed to cough out. "Where did you get that?" 

[TheRedGuy]

Aníbal was a little taken aback by Raina's brusque reply. When she turned around and made a dramatic exit, he awkwardly stood there for a few seconds, then bit his lip to prevent grinning. Was she... jealous? If she was, she had no reason to be. While the new girl was reasonably attractive and wearing an outfit that advertised her assets rather openly, the only thing he found remotely interesting about her at first glance were her unusual avian appendages. He noticed the way one of the boys, the one with the dog, leered at Raina as she left, and felt an instinctive tightness in his chest. It surprised him a little. He flashed the would-be interloper a firm, chilly glance, and left it at that. For now. There was no need to cause a scene. He gave Raina a few moments of privacy - it wouldn't do to act needy - and followed her into the peculiarly decorated back room. Riley and Robin were there, preparing the drinks, and Raina was joined by a girl he had seen around the school but couldn't quite place. Was this the girl from the statue she'd told him about? Fred? The group was having a chat, and Raina seemed a little upset. He remembered their rather tense first day meeting and winced at the thought of a reprise. Don't mess up now.

 

"Most of them, yes.", Aníbal playfully replied to Robin's comment about weird rich people houses. Although, granted, this particular weird house was a little weirder than average. Or rather, weird in a different way. 

 

"Hey Riley, Robin. I thought I'd have a drink too.", he continued and made his way back to Raina's side. Judging by her reaction to the concoction Riley served in the red cup, it may not have been the best idea. "Don't tell me you're jealous...", he leaned in to whisper before nodding in greeting to Raina's companion.

 

"I don't believe we've been introduced. Aníbal Herrera.", he extended his right hand to Winifred while picking up a red cup with his left. Despite his rather outré costume, Fred could probably recognise a hint of familiar upper-class formality in his bearing, an echo of times long past mixed in with a decidedly modern casual openness.

[Avenger Assembled]

"We made it ourselves," said Riley, frowning up at Raina. "Fred'n'I worked on it f'r weeks." Turning to Fred, choosing not to comment on Raina's taste in liquor, he said, "Here, Fred, try some. S'pretty good." He poured her some of the blackberry champagne, halfway filling up the plastic drinking cup. He poured a cup for Anibal too, though he wondered if the tequila heir would have his own strong opinions about homemade liquor. Reminding himself that Robin would want a guy who could behave himself at parties, he went on. "New girl's Phaedra, got dropped up by some guy - angel on th' Freedom League." Riley was not exactly a believer in conventional religion, and couldn't keep some skepticism out of his voice. Phaedra certainly was hot, but his girl was right there in the room. "Think she's his niece or somethin'."

[Fox]

Matt muttered something unintelligible about 'appetites' and 'subtlety' as he followed after his dog - something in his tone must have caught the animal's ear, because he turned back to look at his master with a wolfish grin before returning his attention to a potential source for scratches and delicious things, tail wagging all the way. 

 

"Only if you're really certain there's no 'predator urine'," he dourly commented, though he seemed no less interested in getting a glass of the blackberry than anyone else. "You say it's a joke, but I room with the guy. I'd believe it."

 

A tentative sip was met with a perplexed, grimacing face, but he recovered quickly enough. "That's...not bad, actually...better'n expected. Cheers, I guess," he congratulated, raising his glass in an only partly mocking toast.

[angrydurf]

Huang watched the exchange between Anibal and Raina with some interest as he wasn't sure exactly where that stood though rumors of course flew about the school about the pair.  He offered a knowing smile and light nudge to the luchador beside him, "Hate to see her go but love to watch her walk away eh?"  he suggested with a grin leaving the tequila heir to pursue the pretty witch and perhaps sample the fruits of Fred and Riley's labor.  He drifted along from clump to clump of party goers making sure everything was going as smoothly as could be hoped before finally arriving back at the punch bowl and taking an offered cup.  He looked down at the fizzy imbrocation and shrugged, "Hey it's a party might as well right?"  he asked and tipped his head back draining it in one smooth motion lowering the cup as one eye twitched uncontrollably, "Yup that's alcohol all right, tastes like suffering and regret."  he shook slightly, "And mountain dew." he nodded as his features returned to normal, "I mean good work guys!"  he suggested and clapped Riley and Fred lightly on the back.

[Gizmo]

Winifred bristled a bit at Raina's reaction to the drink but contained her commentary to simply pursing her lips and turning her attention to the cup Riley had poured for her. "Smith, recalling the alcohol content of that, does it seem at all wise for me to render myself more prone to emotional responses?" she asked in a lowered voice, quirking one eyebrow upward. She'd enjoyed the academic challenge of brewing the 'wine' and the survivalist had sufficiently convinced her that it would be a good way to ingratiate them to the other party-goers but she hadn't been planning to partake herself. When Huang offered his own review she sniffed, glaring as he clapped her on the back but misunderstanding his reference. "Latin and now poetry. You're certainly going out of your way to impress as a host." Matt's qualified compliment was a little closer to what she'd been hoping to hear and she accepted his toast with a nod and a small smile.

 

From the interplay between Aníbal and Raina the reason for the witch's foul mood eventually became clear. "...ah. Well. Winifred Wei," she introduced herself, looking looking around the room and reevaluating the various costumes of her classmates. "I would say it's a pleasure but I think perhaps I'm meant to be cross with you in solidarity, Master Herrera. I think as well that I may have misunderstood the... spirit of the celebration. I've changed my mind, Smith, give that here." Taking the red cup she downed half of its contents immediate, grimacing briefly before composing her features again and smoothing the lines on her skirt with her free hand. "Ahem."

[alderwitch]

Robin had fallen largely quiet, her shoulders against one of the maps on the wall and observing more than commenting as her friends chatted. She took a few more sips of her cup before setting it down on the edge of the table discreetly once Fred had decided to partake. If she was going to spend the second part of the evening potentially wrestling the Alkahest down, Robin figured a clear head would probably be helpful. Still, she offered no word of caution. Fred deserved to enjoy the party as much as everyone else, after all. 

 

"So what all is the plan for this party?" Robin asked with curiosity. She'd only heard the vaguest of details and wasn't honestly sure what, beyond underage drinking and very likely a few poor choices to follow, "I mean, do people still do like party games or what?"