The Shocking, Spine-Chilling, 2018 Spooktober Spectacular!

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Ivaz silently listens to Kuriko ramble on about learning stuff. Man, this girl was way too wrapped up in school. She really needed to cut loose and have some fun. Enjoy life, ya know?

Ivaz also watched Marco a bit curing the conversation. The guy looked fairly nice. But she couldn't shake the suspicious feeling she had about him. Something wasn't quite right here.

Once Kuriko takes a breath from her speech, and gives her name, Ivaz steps in.

So, Marco, we've heard a bunch about her work. What's yours?

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Kuriko is just so excited that there's finally somebody who appreciates her work that she doesn't bother trying to see if the appreciation is real or not.

"Uh, thanks."

That got her to stop talking.

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

Noticing her somewhat awkward response, Marco directs an encouraging smile and nod towards Kuriko, casually resting a large hand within one of the pockets of his pin-striped dress pants, glancing over towards Ivaz as she begins to speak, posing a relatively straightforward question for him.

His response is immediate, his smile and general demeanor charming.

"Waste management, actually. I'm one of the owners of a small company which runs out of Skyside."

"Nothing as intriguing as your charming friend's work, I'm afraid."

--

Directing the flow of conversation, Marco clears his throat before continuing.

"So, how do you lovely ladies know our host?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Waste management. In Skyside.

Right.

Ivaz will let it go for now. But she totally doesn't believe him.

Oh, I've seen him around a few times, but I haven't really talked to him. She glances around a bit to see if she can spot Magtok, taking note of some other interesting individuals to talk to later. But, hey, I saw there was a costume party going on. Can't pass that up.

[Arkhosia]

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.

[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."

Snipey Blanche and the Skeevy Kramo Boys

"Aurelia Lour've, Kramolagh's paramour." The blonde introduces herself, an embarrassed little blush forming at the realization of her faux-pas. She didn't seem at all fazed by Nigel's own informal chatter, even if someone so proper and gracious does seem to usually look down upon such mannerisms with disdain. The mention of Blanche earns the catgirl her own little curtsy of greeting, which makes her look the slightest bit perturbed.

Nowhere near as perturbed as when Kramolagh acts next, though. "Er, how do you kno-" The words are cut short as the man's chilling fingers grasp her hand, dragging it up to his mouth and pressing his lips against it... and Blanche reacts violently. "Don't ****ing touch me." she snarls, ripping her stained hand out of the Executor's grip abruptly and forcefully as she steps backwards. Coincidentally, this does place her ever so slightly behind Nigel, but from the way she's staring daggers at Kramolagh, it doesn't seem like she's trying to hide behind him.

Aurelia responds with a startled look even as she steps ever so slightly in front of her paramour, pressing protectively against him as she looks towards the catgirl with a concerned gaze.

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Waste management is very important in flying cities.
Kuriko would talk about how she wants to go there to study how the different classes of people interact but she holds her tongue because then she'd have to answer "why haven't you gone there yet."

Anyway, the nerdscholar answers the question, because it's a very important question. "Well, I don't know him personally," she says, "but one of the proposals I'm writing analyzes the effects certain influential Nexitizens have had on the culture. Since this was an open invitation, I decided it would be the perfect chance to make some preliminary observations."

The first word of the proposal is "MagTopia".

And, once again, she reminds everyone that she came here to study, not party.

...
This is how parties involving her usually end up.

[Lord Magtok]

Arriving Again

Magtok has to try really, really hard to ignore everything going on behind him. Caelynn's daughter is being creeped on by Kramolagh, a bunch of people are messing with the fake Libitina, Lou'vre has an heir apparently, there's a giant Monster Hunter thing at this party, and people are rolling magical destiny dice and ruining everything. Any individual one of those things could be a party-ruining catastrophe, but he can't scurry from table trying to fix anything just yet, because Renee is here. Sweet, adorable, precious Renee, who has grown into quite an impressive young adult since Mag last saw her.

"I've missed a couple of birthdays." Magtok answers, hugging Renee tight. "I'll get started making it up to you this Thanksmas, promise, but for right now, could you look over my shoulder and tell me if anyone's dying horribly over there? I'm sorta morally obligated to keep these idiots from killing themselves. Especially the one with the catsuit and the cleavage, she's the daughter of a friend." Caelynn would be very cross with him if Blanche died or got Krammed in a tragic Halloween party accident. We have enough problems as is right now without Caelynn falling apart over the untimely ruination of her own child.

[billtodamax]

Nigel/Blanche/Weirdos

Alright, great talking to you Aurelia. Nigel says, stepping in between Blanche and Kramolagh and giving him a "what the hell are you doing" look. He turns to Blanche. You wanna get something to eat? He asks her, motioning over to one of the only 2 tables that Magtok decided to fill the room with. Conveniently across the room from Kramolagh and Aurelia.

Why in god's name did Magtok invite Kram. Of course he was gonna be creepy and weird Mags! That's all the dude does!

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

The suited figure stares forward somewhat solemnly, almost some semblance of pain visible in the creases of flesh at the sides of his dark, brown eyes. There was a strange sort of sadness there, deep and melancholic, at stark odds with the bright, crooked smile upon the man's rugged face.

"We all have our costumes, don't we."

"I remember my first costume party. I went as Superman. Don't think I could pass it off now, don't have the chin for it."

--

The change in voice is somewhat abrupt there, unusually serious before stabilizing once more to a somewhat whimsical, nostalgic tone. He responds swiftly to Kuriko, a sympathetic expression upon his face. "Oh, really? Hm. So, how long have you been interested in psychology?"

"My apologies if I've used an incorrect term, I never was particularly academic."

---

[Fight Night with Nigel and the Gang]

Kramolagh pauses for a second or two after Blanche's outburst before glancing towards Aurelia and stifling a laugh. Finally, unable to properly contain it, he lets out a quiet, condescending titter before responding to Nigel. "My, vhat... interesting company you keep, my friend."

"Vhell, I can see you've your hands full. Vhe'll s-see eachother soon, vhon't vhe."

--

At that, he offers a waggling wave before directing Aurelia elsewhere.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Hm. Some signs of actual emotions. Interesting.

Ivaz will lean her staff against her shoulder, then go to reach out, take a firm, gentle hold of Marco's chin, and turn his head a bit, examining his face from different angles.

Eh...I've seen worse chins on Superman. She goes to pat his upper arm. Big shoulders and chest are more important, anyways. Need room for the logo.

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Before, when Kuriko was a fungus, she didn't really care all that much about whether something was hot or not, but...Ivaz patting Marco's arm? That's kinda hot.

"I've been into Sociology ever since I was a little shroom," she says, "because I really liked seeing how different cultures could coexist even when they're completely different."

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

Marco appears somewhat surprised as Ivaz reaches for his face, reacting with a combat-ready swiftness at odds with his supposed profession. Still, he grows comfortable quickly, resisting the urge to flinch. Instead, he simply moves with Ivaz's palm, smiling somewhat as she gets a proper look at him. A part of his chin, to the side, appears bruised, but other than that, there's nothing out of the ordinary.

As she pats his arm, the larger figure playfully assumes a superhero-esque stance, positively beaming for just a moment. He's quite muscular and well-toned for a business executive. "Heh. Thanks for the encouragement."

"Truth, justice, and the American Way," he mutters, before continuing. "What do you think?"

--

Relaxing out of his pose, he glances towards Kuriko once more.

"Sociology. So, you study people. If I pointed out someone, you could tell me something about them just by watching long enough?"

"Or is that just something late night television insists is possible."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Hm. The way he reacted to her reaching for him. The bruise on his chin. This guy was clearly a fighter.

Waste disposal indeed.

Ivaz was about to compliment him some more, but then she processed something Kuriko said. She turns to the nerdy girl beside her.

Ever since you were a what now?

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Kuriko who is dressed as Peachette, realizing that the other woman doesn't know her history, decides to restate her sentence using more generic terminology. "When I was a child," she clarifies. That's basically what she said the first time, right?

Turning back to the man, she also corrects/clarifies something. "Well, maybe? I mean, if I knew enough about them then I could definitely tell you how the power structures in their life affected their personality and their decisionmaking skills and how different groups they associate with influence what sort of problems they run in to."

So, that's kind-of what he was asking, right? Right?

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

Marco nods somewhat here, tempted by the intriguing situation. "I'd love to attend an assessment sometime, view it all first-hand."

"Unless... that would breach some sort of confidentiality thing?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Ivaz raises an eyebrow at Kuriko. Must have been some home town terminology. Probably.

She turns back to Marco. Why not have her analyze you? No confidentiality worries, and you get to see an analysis.

[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

Kuriko is 90% sure they both still have a gross misconception about what sociology is and what kind of superpowers being a sociologist gives you. "Confidentiality isn't really a thing, because I'm not a therapist."

And, "Besides, I don't really know either of you well enough to be able to do it with you. Maybe I could explain how a generic member of the lower-class living in Skyside's undertown feels when confronted with the different groups from there, but..." She starts to feel a little embarrassed.

"...but honestly, what I'll tell you and what you're expecting are probably completely different."

Getting a doctorate in sociology doesn't make you a wizard or Batman or Mr. Holmes, after all.

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

The suited figure raises his hands at this point, chuckling warmly. "Mm, Ms. Ivaz, I'm not so sure about all that. I'm afraid I'm simply not a very interesting kind of guy. Ms. Kuriko would likely find herself bored to tears." Fortunately, it seems further excuses would not be necessary, for Kuriko shuts down further talk of this sort of thing with her own response.

"What an unusually specific example. You live there? In Skyside, I mean."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Mingling]

Ivaz waves her hand in a slightly dismissive manner. Then she goes to wrap an arm around Kuriko's shoulders.

Oh, please, you could totally analyze the crap out of us. And what you'd tell me better not be what I'd expect. That'd be boring.

She points to Marco.

And you, mister fancy pants...I don't believe for a second that you're boring. I mean, you come in here, clearly trying to act normal, like you've practiced it. And you got some kind of big old bruise on your face. Get into fights much? Kuriko may notice that Ivaz is starting to actually lean onto her, like she's using Kuriko to help her stand.

Ivaz...how many of those drinks have you had?

[Arkhosia]

By the Laser Cannon

A spectre is haunting MagCave

The spectre... of Communism!

...No, wait. It's just Cantata, gliding through the foyer with the utmost grace in an almost scandalously short orange-yellow dress. An understandable mistake I guess, considering the woman is definitely Russian and her hair has been dyed a fiery scarlet red, but that mostly open black waistcoat is certainly not the attire of the proletariat. It's even got a flagrantly bourgeoisie collar of feathery cotton that flares up behind the neck, and she's wearing heeled boots and stockings! Frankly, I'm not even sure how there was confusion in the first place.

Spoiler: Reference

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[5a Violista]

[Mingling]

"N-no, I don't live there," Kuriko responds. "I'm from Inside. I, uh, I j-just figured that since you said you worked there, it would probably mean more to you if it was about a people you know."

Then, to correct a misconception, she says, "But! I'm actually kind-of okay with something that would seem boring."

The ex-goomba completely expects to disappoint Ivaz. Should she even bother "analyzing" her? At most, she can say something along the lines of "people with attitudes similar to yours generally grew up in such-and-such situation and there's a roughly 0.5sigma chance that your parents were like this, and if you grew up in a lower-class family then there's a 1.5sigma chance that as a teenager you had a life-changing run-in with the law, but if you're from a middle-class family then the chances are halved, but from an upper-class family, then the chances were actually increased to..."

Speaking of Ivaz, Kuriko needs to find some way to help her stand up. Thing is, her hands are both full, and now somebody's leaning on her. Since her cup will spill if she tries to adjust it too much, she tries to place her notebook underneath her armpit so that her now-free hand can wrap around Ivaz's back to help support her.

"Given what I know about you, there's a 68% chance you don't consider yourself an alcoholic and that you'd tell someone you only drink when the occasion calls for it, and not quite an 86% chance that doing this to someone is a common occurrence for you, and a slightly higher chance that you're faking being drunk." Yes, her sentence has some slight bite to it...I mean, they had the same nonalcoholic drink as each other and Kuriko was pretty sure it hadn't been spiked!

Then again, if Ivaz's drink actually was spiked (or she's having an allergic reaction), Kuriko would probably feel pretty silly.

[Shadowcaller]

[Refreshment Table]

"This is the nexus, you don't have to be a reporter to meet interesting people." Faith replies with a smile, it sure wasn't why she had taken the job.

But speaking of interesting people, looked like one of them was acting up just now.
Faith was more jaded than your run-of-the-mill nexus person however. Not even a babbling pony skin appearing in the hands of a cat girl grim reaper which in turn caused said cat girls clothes to rebel against her would get more than a raised eyebrow out of her.
Instead, her attention focused on what was actually important, namely that little golden thing she spotted bouncing on the floor...

"Think its one of those dice of wonder." Faith tells Sunder as she points out the die. Everyone at the herald remembered all too well what happened to the team that did a reportage on them. But on the bright side, the health benefits had been much better ever since.

"It causes random magical effects when it lands on a number." Then she remembered who she was talking to and moves up behind the pony princess. "Can you punch out the effect? Don't think miss reaper want her costume ruined."

[Earl of Purple]

Joking Jesters, Jack & Jason

"I'm a self-employed tour guide, specialising in the hidden parts of Inside the common people walk under and around without ever noticing. Or, to put it another way, the roofs, spires and balconies of the city." Last time she told someone she was unemployed, they wished her to get a job. So now she's decided that what she does when she needs money most is her job, though she's not too invested in jobs, homes or living in a way constrained or contained by anyone else. "Let's go have a look, rather than shout across the room. It's rude and disruptive to everyone else's conversations." So she'll take Jason's hand and walk over toward the chaos of Fortuna.

[Hattish Thing]

[Mingling]

Marco laughs confidently in response to Ivaz's accusations, careful not to appear too rehearsed as he offers a brief explanation of his more unusual behaviors, leaning back in a relaxed sort of way as he does so.

"Me, fight? I think you may have had a bit too much to drink, miss. As for this, well," he gestures to his bruise before continuing. "You see, recently, I've taken up tennis as a hobby. I'm afraid I'm not quite the best at it, just yet."

"Still, I enjoy it. It's good exercise, and it's important to stay fit."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Refreshment Table]

Libby's cloak doesn't take very long to go berserk, flailing itself up around her legs, catching on Persimmon's twitching excuse for a body and her arms.
She isn't wearing any pants under it.

There's a yelp from her at this motion, and Persimmon is released from whatever happened to him, which seems to be enough for the cloak to wrench itself entirely from her body to run off deeper into the Cave for supplies.
She isn't wearing anything else under the cloak either.

This leaves us with an entirely naked, somewhat pale looking and modestly shapely cat-girl, whose black hair sits over her shoulders but completely fails to cover anything vaguely approaching decency.
Her head tips down a bit to look at herself, then at Persimmon, then at the die lying innocently over there, then back at herself.
"...um. Is it just me, or is it a bit cold in here?"

Persimmon stares somewhat blankly at her for a moment then flops his head to look down at his deflated-looking legs.
"....ooooooooh."
Some part of him is actually being somewhat observant here, managing to pick up what Faith says.
"Ooooooooooh. THAT'S SO AWESOME!"

Now the skin bag is flinging himself at the die, most likely to roll it again.

[Recaiden]

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.

The floating skull bobs over near the giant monstrosity.
First, hanging silently at the wall of a party, doing nothing and ignored by everyone? They know that. That's where they had been, every time.
Nice costume. Kill it yourself?
The words should pop right into the Glavenus's head.

...
...
Can he have finger food without fingers?

[bc56]

Joking Jesters

"You're right. It is rude." Jason leads Jack over to Fortuna. "Do I look like a giant robot who hates all disorder to you?" He watches the chaos unfold. "Looks like fun. I'll give it a try."

[Rebonack]

[Checking Out Fake Mutants]

"It's a relief," Geneva admits. "There was this tension in my memories of things that didn't quite line up. Like a bit of sand stuck between the gears in a watch. Things were grinding and I was just making the best of it."

She offers Nick a comforting head-butt.

"Glad everything is back to normal. Or at least as normal as anything ever gets around here."

Which is to say, not that normal at all.

"D you want to mingle a bit? I don't think these foam latex props are going to have much to say."


[Joking Jesters]

"Give it a try? Is that an ascent to roll the dice of fortune and see what you get?" Fortuna replies, a huge grin stretching across her face. "Oh, I knew coming here would be just a wonderful time. Nothing like a little bit of chaos to spice a party up, am I right?"

She loops her serpentine body around Jason, holding out one paw to deposit a single golden die into his hand. "Or am I right? Give it a toss! See what happens! Order is just a wet blanket, after all. Change is the real deal."

She gives the gal in the Murkrow costume an appraising look.

"And what about you, hmm? A fan of shiny objects yourself?" she asks, waving a second polished golden trinket for her to see.


[The Tables]

Sadly the die has lost all of its golden luster. It's just a normal white six sided die with black pips now. No magic left to speak of. If Persimmon wants another, he'll have to ask Fortuna for it.

As for Sunder, "Yeah, I could break the enchantment. Just gotta give dat robe a knock and-"

And then the robe flees the scene.

Sunder frowns as it departs.

"So much for dat plan..." she grumbles. "You okay dere, miss Libby?"

People being naked really doesn't seem that weird to Sunder. Equestrian and all. But she DOES know enough about humanoids that it bugs them. She raises one wing for Libby's benefit, shielding her from the rest of the crowd.

She glances back at Faith. "So... uh... you had some questions you was gunna ask me, yeah? I... uh... geeze... fallin' back one my old accent sometin' fierce here."

[Earl of Purple]

Joking Jesters

Jack smiles and nods. "If it wasn't true, this costume wouldn't be so accurate." Fortuna might note that Jack's feet are really bird's talons, not just special boots, and the feathers emerging from her arms are growing there. Jack will hold her hand out for the draconequus to put the dice in her hand, which despite emerging from what looks suspiciously like a wing, is a totally normal human-looking hand.

[Shadowcaller]

[The Tables]

Suddenly Faith wished she had clothes to lend to 'Miss Libby", considering how much effort she had put into her own costume it had to be awful losing it thanks to some stupid spell like that.
It started to become pretty clear there wouldn't be any time for interviews here, but things were bond to get interesting in other ways soon enough. That being that had thrown the die, which now mysteriously had lost its luster (weren't die of wonder usually black?), seemed to want to make sure of that.

But she was sure Magtok would do something about her if she continued like this. Or maybe he wouldn't. Either way, it would tell her something about him.

But if there was anything she had learned about magic was that what had been done could usually also be undone. "Hey, can anyone give a new costume to miss Libby here?!" She shouts, hoping there were some people able to summon clothes, or maybe Magtok had extra costumes ready.