The Shocking, Spine-Chilling, 2018 Spooktober Spectacular!

[Deathkeeper]

[Snack Table]

Nick flinches, starts to reach for something behind him, and relaxes a little bit with a chuckle as he discovers that his wife is not in fact being attacked, and drops to the floor, a black griffin in Red cosplay. A small wince; jeans aren’t really meant to fit on feline bottoms. He can take it, though.
”I guess the proper thing to say is, ‘nice to have you back.’”
But of course, he isn’t actually referring to Persimmon.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Refreshment Table]

The next cookie that was aiming for Libby's mouth freezes, as she focuses on the three-piece-suit-painted sack of moving skin.
Focuses to a degree that seems briefly confused and very, very alarmed.

And then the cookie slowly descends into the hood, to the waiting mouth, as she contemplatively chews.
"Who's Jack?"

[Snack Table]

As Persimmon descended through the air, blissfully feeling the breeze as he prepared to wrap his floppy limbs around Geneva's head, he thought he caught a whiff of something familiar.
Something else familiar.
Then he spots the caramel apples and gives a little "ooooh", shortly before the FWAP and being summarily tossed to the ground.

Once he is on the ground, it's pretty clear that a onesie disguised as a three-piece-suit didn't try to attach to Geneva.
It's a pile of animated pony skin painted to look like a three-piece-suit onesie, that just tried to attach to Geneva.

Much more unpleasant.
Particularly because the folds of its face are contorting themselves into what it thinks is a jaunty grin, but in actuality is a highly distressing perversion of the very concept of a smile.
"Genevaaaaa! It's been FOREVER! I see you got cool shapeshifting powers like the horrible monsters too! What was with the weird human disguise though?"
There's a faint red glow in the depths of the empty eye holes of the skin's head area, which seems to flop over a bit to examine Nick. And then flops back over to Geneva.

Persimmon then adopts a conspiratorial tone that happens to also be very very loud.
"IS HE NOT INTO THE FURRY THING?"

[Mee]

High above the festivities -- well. Okay. Just. Just by the ceiling, okay? --, sneaking in, unseen, unheard, and nearly invisible except that she's mostly bright freaking electric blue, some of her scales seem to glow ever so slightly, and the loud rasping of scales against metal piping is actually pretty loud but hey; sneaky.

Indeed, it is Kin, the lamia! She's sneaking into this here party, prepared to crash it and be all cool and impress people and stuff, and is climbing along the pipe going along the ceiling. The good news is that by using her few hundred pounds of tail, she can actually hang onto the pipe very well by using several loops of tail around and over it!
The downside is that due to those same few hundred pounds of tail, the pipe groans, creaks, and then breaks above her. Good thing the pipe was purely decorative and didn't carry water or sludge or toxic anything!

On her way down, Kin manages to turn around to at least face the ground, and gives a nice view that she's wearing what appears to be a fairly simple set of military fatigues, an eyepatch, an odd plastic horn attached to the side of her forehead, and a lot of fake scars. She also somehow manages to pull a large cardboard box out of no where. She lands with a loud 'oomph', and quickly pulls the box over the human part of her body.
She peers out the hand hold of her box, mumbling something about how she's "Commencing Virtuous Mission." or something. The box is laughably terrible at hiding her; what with the near 20, 25 feet of bright blue, red, and slightly glowing tail sticking out the back of it.

Practically invisible.

[Rebonack]

[Refreshment Table]

"Uh... dis guy I met when I visited de wasteland dat one time... or, eerr," Sunder gives her head a little shake. "The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain," she mutters a few times under her breath to try to get her voice 'right' again. "He's a tragic creature suffering from the hubris of others long since dead. He asked me to try to kill him once, though I've amassed a little more divine clout since then. I might be persuaded to try again, if he manages to be polite about it."

As Sunder recalls, Jack Empty was about as polite as she was before she got all those etiquette lessons.

"Though I would much prefer finding a way to cure him. If such a thing is possible, this would be the place to find it."

[Snack Table]

Nick is given a little sidelong glance accompanied by a small smile. It's good to be back.

Aaand then Persimmon decides to be weird.

Of course he does.

"Sort of, but no. I had the misfortune of meeting a draconequus named Fortuna, incongruous juxtaposition intended. Fully. She managed to make my already complicated life much more complicated. It's a... curse? Sort of? I've tried to make the best of it," she quickly replies. "I'm actually not sure if there ARE any changelings around here, now that you mention it. But now I'm half way expecting Swiss to suddenly leap out from under the table for a tackle-hug."

The hippogriff stiffens for a scant few moments, eyeing the snack table warily.

When no bug-ponies are forthcoming, she starts to continue-

-only for Persimmon to say something scandalous.

She manages to make a strangled little noise in the back of her throat, her face somehow flushing through her feathers.

[And as if things were terrible enough already, I decided to make my grand entrance!]

"Ugh, these location tags are so tacky. We need something with a little more Spooktober spirit! Maybe something in orange? Hmm, ah well," Fortuna muses aloud as she promptly begins existing in the general proximity of the snack table. "Who brings carrots to a Halloween party? Really?" she mutters, and with a snap of her claws replaces the wholesome snacks with tiny carrot cakes shaped like jack-o-lanturns. "Much better! And for my contribution~!"

Then she places a thirty eight pound Christmas fruit cake atop a cheerful red and green platter in the middle of the table, serving as the perfect centerpiece.

"There! Food placed. Now... who to give a trick to go with the treat? Hmmm..."

The draconequus twists her sinuous form around to take in the crowd-

-then slaps her forhead with a claw. "Of course! I nearly forgot my costume! How positively silly of me."

And with utmost care, she places a little headband with antlers over her head and a little red clown nose at the end of her snout. "There! Done."

Fortuna is, for the record, pretty weird looking. A serpentine hodgepodge of a creature sporting dusky grey fur and scales. Not a dragon, not an equestrian, not a griffin, but some chaotic jumble of all three. On her hips are set the faces of golden six-sided dice that look more embedded than an organic part of her. She's wearing a perpetual snaggle-toothed grin, eyes somewhat unhinged as she just sort of floats there rather than using the two pairs of wings she's blessed with.

Geneva looks positively horrified that the draconequus is here.

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Kuriko the nerd follows Ivaz into the crowd. Away from the refreshments.

"I do!" she responds, not-quite-indignant. "I sometimes do superhero things. That counts. And I had a party when I finished my thesis. Invited all my friends, too." It was hard to fit everybody in the same house. In fact, it was hard to fit Kuriko into the house.

Well, that tends to happen when the house is designed for fungus-people less than a third your height and who have half as many limbs.

It was actually a pretty interesting thesis. "Adaption and integration of novel cultures into the Nexus". Ask her about it and she'll gladly tell you as much or as little about it as you want. It was a couple of years ago.

[billtodamax]

Blanche and Nigel and His Boss and His Boss's Weird Girlfriend

Ah, complex interpersonal relationships, Nigel's specialty.

Ohhhhhh I get it. He lies.

Then his boss shows up argh Magtok why did you invite Kram this was supposed to be a party and now he has to pretend to like his boss noooooo.

Uh, hey Kram. How's it going. Who's...? Apparently Kramolagh isn't going to introduce his... girlfriend? Wife? ...Escort?

Oh, uh hi. He says to Aurelia as he's addressed. He does? You do? So is it... fine to talk about work with her? Are nazi space robots going to tear his head off if he calls Kram his boss? I'm flattered, I guess. Oh, this is Blanche, we were just talking. Blanche, this is Kramolagh. Nigel at least remembers his manners, introducing Blanche to his boss.

[Shadowcaller]

[Front Door]

Normally, any respectable journalist would stay away from the tabloid extravaganza that was Magtok and his shenanigans, not only for their reputation but for their own well-being. It was amazing how few newspapers that covered being eaten by a giant lovelorn ant in their health benefit plan.
Of course, that reference was so dated that Faith was sure that she could put back back that concern into deadtime along with Pat herself. There was no way the ant-queen was still here after Magtok had abandoned the cave twice. She was probably doing something better with her life than trying to win the love of a madman.

However, something seemed to have changed about Magtok since his second return, namely that he had kept a remarkably low profile. Was this another of those "defective" magclones that had moved into riverside masquerading as an actual clone? Or perhaps Magtok was planning something...
Either way, it was an great opportunity to finally visit the infamous cave now that there was an open invitation. Not to mention that she knew for a fact that when Magtok threw a party some of the most prominent people of the nexus always turned up. In fact, perhaps she should be most concerned about getting out of here. Apparently parties in the magcave tended to last forever.

As this was a costume party Faith had decided to actually wear one. Ordinarily not her thing but when in Rome...

The journalist had decided on Sylvanas Windrunner (which in retrospect might have been rather dumb of her) and was thus wearing a ornate brown hood over her head and so far her costume her costume had been exactly on point. Hadn't been difficult to find one and it hadn't been too expensive.
But then things had started to get rough. The foam armor she had wanted wasn't exactly available in stores and she hadn't been ready to make her own just for this occasion and crafting was not Faith's thing.

Similarly, the quiver and the big-ass bow she needed to complete the look were expensive as well, and was there even a point of getting them if she couldn't get the armor? Faith had considered being lazy and just go as a ghost or a mummy, but then inspiration had struck.
Instead of the armor the character she was supposed to depict wore she was wearing some of her concert clothes, specifically spiked skull pauldrons made of foam along with a black vest that also was adorned with spikes. Finally, instead of foam armor gloves and leggings she was wearing spiked leather gloves and a pair of red short-shorts held up by a black skull buckle belt with a pair of black tights underneath. The bow had of course been replaced by her guitar and the quiver with the bag for it, which was now carried over her back.

Faith had considered the metal-Sylvanas costume to be pretty on point if not for her botched dye job, her hair was supposed to be white-blond but one could clearly see her pale red roots underneath. It wasn't that big a deal though as it went pretty well with the rest of the red in her costume. It was just too bad that while her glowing mono-colored eyes were perfect for the costume, they were also of the wrong color. Instead of the blood red the real Sylvanas had which would have gone perfectly with the rest of the costume her eyes cast a distinct lake-blue sheen which no contact lenses could change. There was also the obvious lack of giant long ears poking out from the hood which she never would be able to get right.

But hey, everything couldn't be perfect. As far as costumes went she was pleased with how this one had turned out. Now all she had to do was to find some important/famous people she could talk to...
Well, quite a few weird and/or famous characters here, just as she had expected.
With that, the journalist starts heading towards the refreshment table, hopefully people would be willing to talk to her...

[Recaiden]

Reluctantly, someone arrives at the party. They appear to be a floating skull (slightly larger than average) with burning orange lights for eyes. A platter of pumpkin pies floats nearby.

Now, if one can see things invisible, they might notice that there's an entire four-armed humanoid alien wearing the skull, and holding the tray. But that would spoil the costume. Let the spooky skull go unexplained!

The skull bobs over to the refreshments table to deliver their contribution to the Spooktober feast and then drifts back into the general mingling of the Spooktober party.

[Deathkeeper]

[Snack Table]

Nick frowns. Well, she's not being truthful but he's not going to correct her for this weirdo's sake.
"But is the 'curse' still there? Can you still...?" because right now Nick isn't actually sure if Geneva is back to being a totally normal hippogriff. He would probably appreciate if she was. But would not be upset if she wasn't. You can't worry about these things.

You can worry about a god-level being with capricious attitudes show up. Nick's not as worried as Geneva, but hopes he won't have to do anything.

[Morty]

[Foyer]

Like every year, the Spooktacular party is flooded by very small people. The extensive families of the three goblins and one woblin living (or visiting) at GLoG are once again here. This time, they're all dressed in fancy armour with large shoulder-pads, blocky guns, chainswords... the goblins appear to have dressed up as Space Marines. Leading them is Brinika, dressed up in a highly elaborate costume. Tuskfang is nearby, likewise wearing a fairly heavy outfit. The goblins scatter in search of snacks, spooky fun and interesting things to look at.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Snack Table]

Well that's an exciting change of pace that has Persimmon already forgetting everything else everyone has said. He's not doing so great at the conversation thing today, but it's just so exciting to see old friends! Who could possibly waste time and energy on a little thing like remembering words?
"Ooooooooh. Geneva! Toss me! Toss me!"

It is a mystery why the skin bag actually says this, as Geneva is likely not going to willingly touch him ever and he is already flinging himself just fine.
As up on the ceiling, his little body coils up like a hideous spring, then flings itself onwards!
Onwards, in this particular situation happens to be directly at Fortuna's lower body.

Somewhere mid-flight, he begins babbling.
"I always wanted to meet a Discord! Helloooooo! I'm Persimmon and somehow you're friends with my friends without being my friend and that's a friendship I plan on fixing right now!"

[Refreshment Table]

Libby has very subtly maneuvered herself to put most of the table and everyone that just came over here, between line of sight between her and Fortuna.
"Your friend seems to have found other ways to be suicidal."
Who in their right mind jumps on a draconequus?

But hey! More people have come over to the table.
Keeping Fortuna's direction within her periphery, she pulls out a wide smile and presents a couple of those plastic cauldrons of orange fluid to the folks that have come over. Ignore the wisps of pink in there.
"Hello, hello! Who might you all be?"

[Rebonack]

[Snack Table]

"I... I think whatever she did has come unwound," Geneva says, her tone somewhat uneasy. "OTHER things haven't changed, but the big prank is gone."

Her glyph is hidden by her skirt at the moment. Which is fine. But she can feel it under there. It's what it's supposed to be again. Her destiny is no longer stolen from her.

Geneva would not have willingly touched Persimmon. He's gross in an existentially horrific sort of way. Like a living reminder of the evils perpetrated in the past. She's pretty glad that something more interesting than her caught his attention, even if that something is Fortuna. Speaking of Fortuna...

"Well aren't you just the bee's knees!" Fortuna crows as she flips upside down, placing her head more or less where her tail was a few moments prior. The perfect position to catch flying skinbags. Once in her claws, she rights herself and does a little pirouette perched on a single toe, Persimmon held triumphantly above her as one might with a prized puppy. Then, in a display that makes Geneva gag, the draconequus hugs Persimmon, giving him a little head snuggle. "A draconequus. That's the species. Or tribe, I suppose? Discord is something of a paragon of our kind. Certainly a teency bit more omnipotent than little ol' me. That doesn't mean I'm lacking in the spontaneously generated fun department, mind. The name's Fortuna Wonder. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance, my dear friend Persimmon."

Boy howdy would you look at that! He's made friends with her already.

Isn't that just swell?

"Now, since you're such a wonderful friend, I have a secret to confide in you," Fortuna says, her tone taking on a conspiratorial air as she shoves her face up against Persimmon's. "That woman over there? The one in black chatting with the Princess Sunbutt impersonator? I think she's trying to avoid me. Isn't that just horrid?"


[Refreshment Table]

"They... look to be making friends?" Sunder ventures, trying not to gag at the sight of Jack Empty. He always made her kind of queasy. That really hasn't changed at all. But then more people show up! Sunder peels her eyes away from the tantalizingly grotesque scene nearby to regard the other guests. "Good evening."

[UncleWolf]

Entrance => Giant Wallflower

The Glavenus inclines his head politely towards his host, as he'd seen many people do before he ends on inside. He's careful, delicate even, and avoids stepping on people or bumping into tables, chairs, or the refreshments table. Still, he takes up a lot of room and when he realizes that there's no real "finger food" in his size, he chuffs and settles down against a bare wall to watch and observe. This was a period of learning for him. It was still a Hunt in his mind, but one of information rather than food or battle.

He wasn't all that sure what he'd learn here, but he'd do his best.

Arriving Again

A ramshackle motorcycle makes its appearance, the exhaust "thubbing" loudly as it approaches before finally shutting off. The driver doesn't seem at all concerned when her kickstand falls off and most of the machine just falls to pieces the moment the machine is shut off and she gets off of it. She sighs, reaching into a pocket to sprinkle dust over it before picking up her bag and tossing it over her shoulder. She wears a set of dark tan work pants and a buttoned up jean shirt with just a single sleeve. Her right hand ends in a chainsaw, and her right is dark brown-black up to her shoulder with some obvious white scarring over it. On her hip is a double-barreled shotgun, sawn off and presumably loaded. She doesn't take off her motorcycle helmet just yet.

She shoulders her way through everyone present, even Malice if he tarries too long. "Outta the way, you all ain't important. Scooch. Move aside. Adios." She says, grumbling before she gets to the front and sets her good hand on her hip. "...Groovy." She adds with a wistful sigh before turning to Magtok. If he had any doubt about who it might be, she removes her helmet and tosses it aside before scooping in to try and deliver a tight hug. "You missed my birthday, you know." Bright emerald eyes, dark brown hair tied back into a small braid, the thin sheen of chitin on her bared arm...

She'd grown up some, but at least she was probably a sane person returning after all this time. Totally better than Malice.

[Shadowcaller]

[Refreshment Table]

As she walks over to table Faith makes sure her phone is in her pocket and that her other phone was in the breast-pocket of her vest. To Faith it was as important as having a backup weapon and a professional soldier never went into war without one.

Then as she casually ignored the weirdness that was taking place around her, she zoomed in on Sunder. Her first target. "Good evening, Sunder." She was pretty sure they didn't like being called princess. Seemed like a pretty awkward title and she had a haunch a less formal language was best when addressing her. The name was Sunder after all and Equestrians didn't exactly practice subtle naming conventions.

She then turns to the other person who she couldn't place. Yet she nods her head respectfully in Libby's direction. "And good evening to you as well, ma'm. I'm Faith, from the nexus herald. I know that at least Sunder might have heard my name mentioned before."

[Hattish Thing]

[Blanche, Nigel, Kramolagh, and Aurelia]

Kramolagh nods curtly towards Nigel before elegantly reaching for one of Blanche's hands, attempting to lift it into the air and plant a small kiss, leaving a dark stain upon it. "A pleasure t-to meet you, Ms. Turath." He offers a small grin at that, fake-fangs displayed as his teeth shine and glitter in the light.

He steps away after a moment, resting the palm of his pale hand upon Aurelia's waist before continuing.

"Vhe vhere just speaking of you."

[Devixer]

Entrance -> Foyer

Cassidy's uncovered eye gazes at Kram and Aurelia as they walk away, probably feeling smug about themselves. "...I'm gonna beat 'em up one day," she declares. "Probably you too, mister phantom man, but don't take it personal. Gotta get my fun somewhere, you know?" She lets out a quick laugh at Magtok before heading further in to the party, back to twirling her baseball bat in her hand.

...Only to stop once she reaches the foyer, and the Goblin Marines marching inside. She blinks at them, then whistles. "Okay I'm definitely in the wrong place, with these tough soldiers around? I gotta watch my back around here."

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

At around this time, another individual ventures bravely towards the refreshment table. The suited figure, clad in what appears to be a dark suit tailored to resemble that of Gomez Addams, looks about for several seconds before his eyes settle upon one of the curious multicolored drinks, taking one for himself.

Messy locks of poorly-maintained raven hair have been slicked back and perfectly styled over the tall man's blocky face, while dull brown eyes face forward, his stare intense and somewhat unnerving to some. His weathered, olive-colored skin is ragged and blemished, and numerous bruises can be seen upon his sharp cheeks, deep bags under his eyes.

He watches over the proceedings with a neutral expression upon his face, curious but not intrigued enough to interrupt conversation, until Kuriko mentions something of interest to him.

The man steps forward before speaking out towards her.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

"You mentioned "superhero stuff", you surely can't mean vigilantism?"

---

Spoiler: Reference: (Not-In-Costume)

Show

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Ivaz nods a bit. Okay, if the superhero stuff involves violence, then yeah. That can count. But a thesis party is boring. Unless there's several kegs there. Or fireworks. Fireworks are always fun.

And then a new man joins the conversation!

Ivaz looks him up and down, taking in all of his details. Suit was nice. Rest of him wasn't bad, either.

She takes a sip from her glass as she waits for Kuriko to answer him.

[Deathkeeper]

[Snack Table]

Geneva's mark was always there, though. She just forgot what it was for a while.
Nick grins at her. "Is it worrying that we've been through enough that that's actually not specific enough?" he says, draping a wing around her and laughing it off.
He lets Fortuna have her fun with Persimmon. Unlike Geneva, he's more than happy to let her have her fun if she's not hurting anyone. And if she is, well, he has no jurisdiction here, so he can only ask her to stop.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Refreshment Table]

There's a pleasant smile in the depths of her hood, towards Faith.
"A reporter? I imagine you meet all sorts of fascinating people in your line of work."
Like the half the people in this room, perhaps.
"Are you here for a story?"

Libby tips her hood away at some point, to make a cookie of some sort disappear.

[Snack Table]

Take a moment to imagine a floppy halloween mask, the full-head variety.
Now imagine it's one that someone made of actual flesh, remarkably well preserved.
Now also imagine that it is capable of moving itself around, in flopping, flapping movements and that it is stretching parts of itself into a wide, toothless mockery of a grin.

Persimmon is super happy about his reception from Fortuna, dragging his boneless face through the previously mentioned exercise.
"I like you, Fortuna. You're awesome. I bet if you showed up at more parties, a lot of these people would be sooooo much more fun."

He flops his head somewhat, so he can peer in the direction of the party's only other table.
"Oh heeey, I knew something smelled weird! I think I know her. Boring costume though."
Pretty sure, anyway...gives him that weird tingly feeling inside his upper chest pocket region.
"I mean, aaaanyone can just wear a dark blanket and pretend to be scary."

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Kuriko-the-person answers the well-dressed man. "Er, no," she responds. "Not really." Not a vigilante. "I mean, I'm not a government employee, but I did do it properly and I'm certified as a Medical First Responder, so it's completely legal."

Kuriko fails to mention that most of the superhero stuff she's talking about doesn't actually involve any violence except in rare cases. She can't lose her "cool" points now that she just earned some!

Mainly, she deals with monster attacks on small villages, emergencies, and natural disasters. On the plus side, many of these natural disasters happen because of the chaotic nature of the Nexus, and so she has loads of opportunities to do field research on her sociology studies.

Kuriko lowers her notebook farther so that it is slightly less awkward holding it. Holding it up to her chest for so long is a little tiring. She also takes a sip of her pumpkin punch.

"Overall, it's pretty fun."

[Rebonack]

[Snack Table ==> Checking Out the Fake Mutants]

Geneva begins ambling away from the snacks, those weird glowing tubes against the wall having caught her eye. Where those just props, or...?

"Ha, I know what you mean," Geneva laughs. It's a small, hollow sort of laugh. "But we made it through, right? I'm still making sense of my... umm... backstory, for lack of a batter word. Fortuna really mucked things up and getting everything back in order is giving me a bit of a headache."

She pauses at the tubes, peering inside.

Hmm...

No. Those look like they're made of foam latex. Or laminated bits of paper inside jars. Water and food coloring. She was half-way expecting them to be real.


[Causing Trouble Already]

"I'm soooo glad to hear that! I bet everyone would think I'm awesome if they just stepped back from the situation and had a nice laugh instead of screaming and galloping about in a tizzy when their house turns into gingerbread," Fortuna replies matter-of-factly. "And I agree, a black sheet is just so droll. This situation is in dreadful need of some spice. So tell you what, how about I help you cheer up your old acquaintance over there a bit? You'll just need this-"

She slaps the golden die in her flank with one paw, coming away with a normal sized, six sided die that she offers to Persimmon.

"Discord is fortunate, in a way. He had no limitations on his magic. I do, but in a fun, chaotic sort of way. It's randomized! And consensual. People roll the magic golden dice and something fun happens. So I'm thinking you should give our black-cloaked pal a nice hug for me. And maybe toss the dice, too. I'll float over here leering at the whole display."

And then with a SNAP! of her claws, Persimmon has been juxtaposed with the gummy worms Libby was about to stuff in her mouth. Fortuna tosses pilfered the candy between her teeth, chewing with satisfaction as the scene unfolds.

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

The man nods a little here, raising a glass of multicolored alcohol to his slightly scarred lips. When she's finished, he offers a small smile, gesturing with a practiced and steady hand. The figure moves with great deliberation, firm and focused, every small gesture thought out before performed.

In a way, he moved almost as an actor would, playing a part, a fact likely only discernible to the most practiced of eyes.

"You work sounds exciting, moreso than mine, to say the least."

"Oh, my manners. My apologies, I tend towards the forgetful when I've had a few of these. Marco Abruzzo, it's a pleasure to meet you, both of you."

--

At that, he offers a crooked smile and a large, calloused hand.

[bc56]

Joking Jesters - and also shouting at loud chaos creatures.

"I'm human alright. As for what I do? It's complicated. I build things, mostly. Gadgets and equipment, various stuff. What about you?" While he awaits a reply, Jason looks around the room. Seeing (and hearing) the boisterous Fortuna's antics, he seems curious. "What's going on over there?" He half says, half shouts. "You seem awfully excited."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Ivaz narrows her hazel eyes a bit. Something seemed a bit off about this guy. She wasn't sure what, though. Something about the way he moved seemed a bit forced. Maybe he was wearing a human suit?

Eh. Problems for the future.

She'll take his hand for a shake.

Ivaz Erizo.

She'll let Kuriko take the reins on this conversation for now. She wants some time to try to figure this guy out.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Refreshment Table]

Hopefully no one was getting ready to try to shake Libby's hand. Or acknowledge her snacks.
Or expect to be able to respond to her question in a vaguely sane manner.

Sorry Faith.

The cloaked figure starts with something approximating panic as they find themselves abruptly in possession of a large, excitedly babbling pony skin.
"Oh wow, I barely even felt that transition at all! Usually when people want to get rid of me they just throw me like a wet rag but this time I also got a present!"
Up until he pauses to take a loud, exaggerated sort of sniffing noise and then flops his head up into Libby's hood.
"Oh wow, you really are a-"

There's a peculiar rippling motion in the hood and Persimmon does something unusual: shuts up.
But he doesn't stop moving, flopping his limbs around in an erratic pattern that flings that interesting die towards the table...

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]
"You work sounds exciting, moreso than mine, to say the least."
Ooh. Interesting decision, commenting on how exciting Kuriko's work is. To be blunt, she assumes he overheard her talking about her research, because obviously "superhero stuff" doesn't count as work.

In fact, she begins rambling about her research, becoming more relaxed in this setting because of it. "Yeah! I know, that's what I was telling her." She gestures to Ivaz. "Already the microcultures visible at this party are really neat and I can't wait to get more of my observations written down, and already off the start you can see how cultural magic levels affected how much effort and what kind of effort was put into each costume, like, for example, that one is clearly [...] "

In academia, you meet people who are a lot creepier and weirder and more socially awkward/practiced, so it doesn't seem to phase the sociologist much.

In the middle of rambling about sociology and what work she's done so far on her next couple papers, she shakes his hand. "[...] but the say they've been observed to interact with each other is -"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to say my name. Sorry. It's Kuriko."

[Rebonack]

[Shenanigans]

The golden die bounces once-

twice-

And then settles at last.

Somehow, against all reason and possibility, the face pointing skyward displays five hundred and thirty three pips. There comes a sudden crack of wild, chaotic magic as the little object vanishes in a peal of bold laughter. Like... literally. There are block-print letters of HA HA HA HA! all over the floor like weirdly shaped confetti.

The result should become clear in a hurry.

Anyone who uses or is presently using magic on Persimmon may be dismayed to discover that their clothing hates them. Articles of clothing will suddenly animate, leap from their body, go on strike, and begin picketing about unfair working conditions and sub-standard laundry detergent use. This may prove problematic for Libby.

Fortuna tosses another clawful of gummy worms into her mouth, fishing them out of a bucket normally reserved for popcorn. Come to think of it, those gummy worms are shaped suspiciously like popcorn, too. When Jason hollers at her, she waves back amiably. "Just causing some good-natured chaos. Nothing to be alarmed about, unless you're an Inevitable, I suppose. In which case you have my sincerest condolences."

Sunder, meanwhile, WAS going to reply to Faith's greeting, but now she's rubbernecking between Libby and the skin-suit.

"Uh, Jack? What's goin' on here?"

Seems the accent is forgotten again.

[Deathkeeper]

[Snack Table ==> Checking Out the Fake Mutants]

Geneva begins ambling away from the snacks, those weird glowing tubes against the wall having caught her eye. Where those just props, or...?

"Ha, I know what you mean," Geneva laughs. It's a small, hollow sort of laugh. "But we made it through, right? I'm still making sense of my... umm... backstory, for lack of a batter word. Fortuna really mucked things up and getting everything back in order is giving me a bit of a headache."

She pauses at the tubes, peering inside.

Hmm...

[Checking out Fake Mutants]

Nick laughs.
"You know, is it weird that I really missed you being taller than me? It didn't feel right, you being small, but you wouldn't have believed me if I told you. Now we can go back to our proper ratios. And our sound effects." Nick peers around at Geneva's hooves. Hippogriffs have a very memorable sound when they walk, having talons and hooves. Click clop, click clop. Nick always thought it was cute.

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

Marco's handshake is particularly firm, and his fingers instinctively press up against the wrists of those he comes into contact with. The connection lingers for just long enough before he pulls away, as if the exact duration and the force which with he carries out his shake had been frequently practiced.

Confidently, he offers an attractive smile to each of the women, maintaining eye contact just long enough to be seen as somewhat daring, but not long enough to be uncomfortable.

--

As Kuriko begins to rant on about her field of study, Marco nods enthusiastically here and there, feigning genuine interest. His acting is empeccable, meaning that only the most practiced of sociologists will likely recognize the performance.

Once she's finished, he speaks, quite soft-spoken despite his broad, athletic frame.

"No need to apologize, it's interesting stuff."

"You've a lovely name."