the zombies were having fun, the party had just begun

[tenimuho]

[Early on Thursday, everyone (not including Blaze, but including Price) receives a handwritten invitation slipped under their door.]

COSTUME PARTY + STORYTELLING
Today in the mess hall, 5:00 PM-whenever everyone gets tired
Please join us for costume judging and the chance to win a prize.
Refreshments will be provided.

[At the appointed time in the mess hall, there are some refreshments made by Noctis, Cheryl, and Oda - Oda's share includes curry, naturally, but also sandwiches and other light fare, and some chocolate chip cookies that have come out lumpy but edible. He's also put up some orange and black streamers in an attempt at party decorating.

One of the tables has a bunch of benefactor regains on it - that's definitely the prizes. Win a brand new car! Or a heckton of chocolate!

Storytelling will be later in the evening. Win prizes for that too, it's not like Oda can use most of his stuff. And maybe it'll keep people's minds off tomorrow, for a little while.]

Comments

[tenimuho]

[Oda's costume has been pieced together from the brown pants of his bear costume, the big blue hat from Akande's masquerade outfit, the top part of a maid dress with a couple other maid dresses cannibalized to cover the heart part with more white ruffly bits, and an eyepatch made from black fabric, also taken from the maid dresses.

It's a fairly janky pirate costume, but it's hopefully recognizably a pirate costume.

Most of the party, when he isn't judging other people's costumes and before storytelling gets underway, he'll be flitting around the mess hall.]

Can I get you anything? ...Arr.

[toomanybaseballs]

[Oh dear lord, what is Leon looking at.]

... What are you supposed to be again? [It's not as embarrassing as box jail, but still.]

[heartswapped]

[Mom's gonna set down another plate of cookies before talking to him.]

Gotta say, that costume actually turned out pretty good.

[It's a little white lie, but look. She's not gonna judge when there's not a lot of material to go around.]

[pr159]

[ Rideaux side-eyes Oda's costume while slowly munching on a cookie. ]

...No, thank you.

[ It's not like he really has any room to judge, but at the same time... come on, you've been given how many pieces of clothing, and this was the best combination you could come up with? At least he has the excuse of severely limited resources. ]

[toomanybaseballs]

[Leon kind of threw his baseball jersey over his prison jumpsuit... Well, until Oda gave him back the stupid pirate outfit instead. He isn't really here to win a prize, but he figured socialization would be a good idea.]

[Nothing like a party to get rid of stuff and get your mind off things. Gotta wonder about the decoration and theme though.]

What is this, a Halloween party?

[Is it even October here? Or whatever the space equivalent is. Come chill with Leon!]

[neverheardofhim]

[Varric took one look at Leon and immediately burst into laughter. Sure, a self-respecting pirate might wear something along those lines, but most of the ones he met were a hell of a lot casual.]

You know. I knew a woman who would laugh in your face and then strip you bare.

[airlockedmods]

[Blaze Dudely might not have been invited to this shindig but one of his robots is here. It's just kind standing near the food, holding a plate of...something edible-looking but not setting it down.

Maybe because it's not for everyone.]

[toomanybaseballs]

[What.]

The hell is this thing doing here?

[He's not sure if he should poke the edible thing and risk death. But he is staring.]

[tenimuho]

[...There sure is a robot at Oda's costume party, hello. He's just going to cautiously approach it.]

...Good afternoon?

[andneversaydie]

Oh. Um, hi, there.

[...she approaches a little carefully, because the robots are kind of scary on account of all the murder that's happened.]

You, uh, here for the party?

[silverguitarhero]

[John's arrived dressed in a jack-o-lantern suit, though he's foregone the tie. He's also got his guitar slung over his back.]

I know many tales of the mountains and the happenings there. I'm sure there'll be one that interests you too.

[tenimuho]

You look very stylish.

[Please never allow Oda to have opinions about anything.]

[andneversaydie]

[...Mozu wallflowers a bit, because she's honestly a little... well. She wore the scarecrow costume because it's a costume party, but it seems a little... not her style? Maybe if the skirt were a little longer and the top were a little higher... but honestly, she's kind of wishing she'd worn the butler outfit right now.

But if approached, she will smile a bit nervously and respond.]

Well, the stories will be fun, I bet, won't they? Are we talking ghost stories, actually? Because those are pretty fun.

[tenimuho]

I'm not sure. Ghost stories would be thematic for a party like this, but I won't stop anyone from telling whatever stories they want.

[silverguitarhero]

Oh, I know plenty ghost stories. Some of them I've even seen myself.

[pr159]

Couldn't tell you. The invitation wasn't exactly big on detail.

[ He's not into that sort of thing at all, and he's not sure if he'd have any stories to tell even if he was. Though maybe he could build off of one of the rumors about that old ship off the Alest Highroad...?

Anyway. That would be kind of a cute dress on someone with a better chest. He doesn't really get the whole patchwork thing, though. ]

What are you supposed to be?

[ebonyknight]

[Apollo arrives in... the butler outfit. She wasn't going to show up as a golem, are you crazy? She doesn't seem to be happy to be here. Nothing about that seems unusual, though.

What's unusual is the fact that she's holding hands with Pyyrha as she arrives. She's even blushing. Someone probably would have preferred not to but what can you do?

A little later she'll be sitting against the wall huffing.]

What is the point of all this?

My why ever could they be doing this

[tokencanadian]

See? It's not so bad. [Pyrrha says whispering to the older woman as they enter. There's nothing to be scared of, she told her, even though she too is blushing.]

[nightcure]

[ Noctis is here, of course, sporting a costume he received earlier. He actually works it pretty well, though he's got the hood down. Anyway, he's provided non-burned pancakes with a variety of toppings, as well as some punch.

He's around, mostly just wandering, with a plate of food and cup of punch in hand. ]

[helladoptera]

[ Max is here in... her butler outfit! It has blue accents, she likes it. ]

Whoah, very... cool? Sinister? Cool, I'm going with cool.

[heartswapped]

[Cheryl arrives in a dark-colored prince outfit made from an altered butler uniform, a tiny silver duct tape crown atop her head. She's helping Oda with that curry, along with making some potato croquettes and little pastel-hued cookies with rainbow sprinkles on them. They have a faint space anise flavor, if you take one.

Later, she'll be listening to the scary stories other people tell, but she doesn't really have too many of her own: well, not unless you count horrifying things Pokemon can do or accounts of her own travels.]

[neverheardofhim]

[Locking eyes with Cheryl, Varric picked up one of his new stories and leaned toward her.]

How do you feel about the undead, sweetheart?

[chides]

[ mako is here. he is wearing this monstrosity. he probably doesn't have stories to tell but he is here with some stir fry. it's actually really good please take some.

after a few moments though he's. walking out??? BRING HIM BACK ]

[heartswapped]

Mako?

[She's going to run after him...]

[induality]

[This seems stupid, considering the anxiety looming-- at least, for her it is. Still... staying in when everyone else is going... that wouldn't make her feel any better. So she puts on the dumb costume-- a peasant-like dress that's meant to belong to another bookworm (namely, Belle). It's fairly normal and... well, it's comfortable. Heck, by her own choice she even has a book with her. But she also brought a soft blanket to curl up with along with the tea she recently got.

She'll share, but otherwise she's kind of staying to herself. Doesn't stop her from watching everyone else having fun though.]

[helladoptera]

[ Max will, at a point, sit down next to her! She's in her butler outfit, since... I mean Fukawa probably saw it but the costume she got made Max cry so that's not here!!! ]

You're probably gonna rock the scary story part of things, huh?

[neverheardofhim]

[After the week he'd had, Varric wasn't exactly in a partying mood. However, he'd missed earlier functions and thought it wise to not make a habit of it. Lucky for everyone, he came in costume, showing off the form the maker had blessed him with.

He came armed with both his books and a story a few extra stories. On short notice, he didn't have time to come up with anything new, so he'd opted to draw from history. Lucky for him, Thedas was lush with bone-chilling stories.

For a while, Varric sat off to the side, observing and writing as he so often did. Where once the dwarf had only a single paper for each individual, some might find that their names held a great many notes. Perhaps Varric might share some of these stories as well?

Whether he was approached or not, Varric eventually would make his way to the refreshments table, plating some of the curry, a sandwich, and making a face at the lack of booze.

Of course, even though he kept to himself, the dwarf kept his posture light and his face bright. He was still doing his best to exude openness, in hopes that someone might turn to him rather than making a deadly mistake. He wouldn't turn anyone away.]

[nightcure]

[ ... wow. That was a sight, to be sure. Noctis settled down next to him and offered to him a glass of punch. It even had lemons and limes floating in it. ]

Having an alright time?

[tokencanadian]

[Pyrrha arrives to the party wearing that costume she was wearing earlier this week. At least she's wearing someone else besides those heels... And she's also hand-in-hand with Apollo. What's all that about?

Well, you'll get the chance to ask her, as she hangs around the party, trying the refreshments, and the food.

She's perfectly amicable, and will happily speak to anyone that comes by! But she might also approach you and ask-]

We're supposed to be telling stories? Aren't we? I wonder what kind.

[induality]

[She's watching you. Both of you. Closely.

But when asked about the stories, Fukawa blinks.]

Scary stories. It's supposed to be something like a Halloween Party, I suspect. With the costumes an everything...

[pr159]

[ Well, Rideaux has zero interest in going to a party of any kind in a plague doctor mask (he doesn't know what that hideous bird head thing is even supposed to be), and he is absolutely not wearing that maid dress in public. So, given how little clothing he's gotten since arriving here... his options are kind of limited.

In the end, he settles for chopping up the black doctor robe, throwing on his maid stockings and feather boa, and gluing pieces of red construction together into something vaguely resembling a flower.

So, fine. Here he is, a Mandragora (everyone has monsters that look like this in their worlds, right? totally a standard costume) that looks more like a retired salsa dancer than anything. ]

Remind me again how this was the event theme we settled on.

[toomanybaseballs]

[Pirate boy here is snickering at your dress, buddy.]

What else were we supposed to do with these costumes?

[goldrighthand]

[Costume party, you say?

Akande and Rick enter together. Rick is shirtless, and Akande has what looks like some blue foilage he found in the greenhouse arranged in a somewhat spiky formation about his head. Go on, guess who they are. Guess.

You might also be marveled at how he maintains his dignity with such a ridiculous attempt at costuming, but somehow, he does it. He may as well be wearing a tuxedo with how he carries himself, or maybe that's the fault of the constantly-refilled-glass of alcohol in hand.

It's part of the costume, ok.]

[rickdiculous]

F-for the record, I would've let you wear my labcoat.

[casually shirtless drinking]