The Samhain Ball - Come as You Aren't

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

A woman strides through the Nexus, garbed in royal finery of a distinctly Elizabethan style. In the crook of her arm, she carries an ebony scepter shod and capped in silver. There may be something familiar about her confident bearing, her angular features, her mismatched eyes. When she pauses to speak, the cadence of her words might spark recognition--is this Schön?!

"People of the Nexus, friends, in the world from which I hail we stand on the cusp of a special day, a harvest-fest when the walls between worlds grow thin, when masks and costumes are worn to frighten away the wicked spirits--or to invite them in on more congenial terms. So on this day, I invite you, each and every one of you, to join me in a revel to bid farewell to Summer, and welcome with fire and song the coming dark! Join me, won't you?" Letting her gaze sweep the crowd, she raps the heel of her scepter once against something solid, vanishing in a flash and leaving a sparkling trail for the curious to follow.

A cool wind herds dry, crackling leaves through the gathering gloom. On the cusp between the parklands and the residential district, darkness and cloudy skies have been slowly coalescing for days around a stately house of Gothic style, ivy-encrusted and showing its age somewhat. A square tower stands vigil over the entryway, tall windows overlooking the flagstone drive looping around a fountain gone dry. The house’s angular wings stretch to either side, the windows dark save for occasional glints and gleams of colored lights bobbing within. A glow does creep over the line of the roof, however, and the faint throb of distant music hint at something happening behind the house. The door stands open, a silent invitation to every brave soul who passes by.

((Happy Halloween! Enjoy the festivities. All LOLs are optional. Threadhopping is encouraged. Backtagging is forever, so don’t worry about missing out: we’ll still be here when you get back from your more mundane ghosties and goblins.))

Playlist
Visualosity
The Entrance
The Ballroom
The Banquet
The Bonfire
The Corn Maze
Dark Corners
Costume Icon Requests
The Photo Booth

Comments

[shardofwinter]

He leans back and interlocks his fingers before stretching. "I'll accept your charming little offerings. Any requests?"

That gets a snort. "You got me a bottle of wine. Dancing isn't optional here, my dear."

[smartass_captain]

"You can do magic right? Is it just like...ice stuff? I don't know anything about magic. A guy from Tamriel showed me a ball of light earlier? That's about all I've seen myself." Jim seems excited by the prospect of magic.

He can't help it. It's a New Thing. Doubly more interesting because a friend is capable of it.

[shardofwinter]

"Ah, a good old mage's trick." Reynard nods approvingly and then strokes his beard. "No, it's Winter magic. That includes ice, snow, wind, yes, yes, all of that. But also festive feelings, survival instincts, the excitement of Winter days... You name it, and if it's Winter, I can do it." A brief pause and he corrects. "Right now I can only do a tiny fraction of it... but at Winter, yes, everything! So, a request? Or shall I decide?"

[smartass_captain]

"Something cool looking maybe?" Jim leans his chin on a hand, watching Reynard form across the table. "I'd rather let you decide. I wouldn't know what to ask, man. Magic is so new to me. it's like asking a blind guy what his favorite color is."

[shardofwinter]

"Hm." The Winter spirit casts his eye around, searching for ideas or for something to click into place. After setting down his glass, his fingers wriggle and flex, bringing his power to his fingertips while he thinks. "Something... fitting for the old understanding of Samhain... I'm sure our host would want nothing less..."

He bangs the small table with his fingers in an 'Aha!' gesture, sending frost patterns spiralling across it. He laughs and stretches out his hand and focuses. The frost builds until a small figure of a spindly, frosty fairy forms at the tip of one of the patterns, as if the small creature had been the cause of it. Reynard blows it off so that the frost reveals perfectly crafted ice sculpture. It has a particularly sharp, nasty expression on its face and looks like it might move at any second, spreading more frost designs in its wake.

Reynard grins, proudly, rubbing his fingers together and evaluating his work. "A good little start."

[smartass_captain]

Jim always loves the face people make the first time he shows them his holopic of the Enterprise. He loves the wide eyed wonder and appreciation for his ship, his workplace, his home.

That face is the one he makes as frost spreads from the tips of Reynard's fingers, etching their way across the surface of the table, before coalescing into the frost fairy who apparently started the entire commotion. And then it changes and Jim has to remember to close his mouth because he's gaping rather obviously.

"...That...that is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Someone's impressed!

[shardofwinter]

The gawping only makes his grin wider and his chest puff out proudly while he plays it casual. "Pretty, isn't it?"

He taps Jim's hand playfully and a thin layer of frost spreads across the other man's hand. Then he laughs and casts his hand upward in a more extravagant display. The shards of ice that bloom from the frost crawling across the chandeliers is more bizarre and random looking. It's only when one looks at the light being cast they see the snowflake patterns painted around the room.

[smartass_captain]

It's not an illusion. It's cold and Jim's fingers graze over the frost on his hand before he watches the display move upward. And this is just a taste? Jim's double fucking impressed.

"Remind me to buy you wine in the winter, if this is just the preview." He sounds almost breathless, watching the light play off the walls in snowflake patterns.

[shardofwinter]

Reynard sighs contentedly as he watches this small section of the room take on a more agreeable lighting. Flexing his fingers again, he picks up his wine, frosted swirls forming around his fingers even though he lets the power fade away again.

"Usually I save this sort of thing for in case of emergencies. Creating a safe spot in an avalanche, or making ice picks to so I can save someone from falling, that sort of thing. But, since Winter is nearly here..." He shrugs.

[smartass_captain]

"Are you kidding? I'd be showing off all the time. You know how many groupies you could get?" Hell, Jim might be one of them and he's not afraid to admit it.

"This is seriously the most amazing thing...and you sound so bored of it! Oh man."

[shardofwinter]

"Bored of it? Seasons no, but it is a drop in the ocean, something I am rather used to. I only use it to impress people I really like." He winks and refills his glass. "Besides, I can't be showing off all the time. Too much attention in my world would spark chaos."

[smartass_captain]

"And that's why you're here as a Snow King." Jim nods along because he gets it and the costume is even cooler now that he's seen a bit of Reynard's magic.

"Yeah. People of all kinds ruin just about everything." Jim sinks back into his seat, poking at his glass. "Humans, Klingons...whatever other races you've got. If everyone of every kind has one thing in common, it's that everyone is assholes."

[shardofwinter]

"And that's why I'm here as a Snow King," he confirms with a similar nod.

After the little rant, Reynard points his finger at his companion with thoughtful, narrow eyes. "I like you, Jim. You understand things."

Then he goes back to stroking his beard and sipping his wine. "I've never heard of Kingons before. What other races do you know? What are they like? Aliens... must be very strange."

[smartass_captain]

"Wish I didn't. Would mean the world was a better place. Any world." He snorts and shakes his head. "Klingons are huge tall bastards of warrior race, super honor bound and super aggressive. Hate the Federation because working together means people are weak or something."

Jim pauses, stares up at the fading snowflake patters the light gives to the walls.

"There's Vulcans, an endangered species of touch telepaths who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of a purely logic based lifestyle. Purging emotion is a huge thing for them. Used to think they couldn't feel. most people think so. But they do.....Fuck, do they ever. I think they super feel stuff, and choose not to. Somethig like that. Anyway, they're good folks, mostly. Kinda jerks, but they've had a rough time. My first officer's half Vulcan."

[shardofwinter]

It's entirely possible that Schön will be none too happy with the melting ice. Not that it's a particular concern right now. He'll deal with any complaints as they come.

"Sounds like a few people I've come across," Reynard comments with a snort.

"They 'choose not to' feel? Wouldn't that be a useful skill! Not an easy thing for humans to empathise with, though. I've never come across a human who benefited from pretending they didn't have emotions. It only ever ends badly. Perhaps things are different for Vulcans, if their culture is geared to it. They must have found a way to make it work."

[smartass_captain]

"It's good for problem solving a lot of the time." Jim concedes. "But I think if they couldn't diminish the intensity of the way they feel emotions, especially as telepaths, they'd have gone mental long before now."

Jim chuckles.

"He's irritating and hilarious to talk to. You'd like him. Or at least you'd like messing with him."

[shardofwinter]

"Because you like messing with him, I suppose?" A grin spreads across his face. He knows what you mean, Jim. "And you get along well with him?"

[smartass_captain]

"As Captain and his best friend, it is my right--No. It is my duty to mess with him. Get him used to his human side. He returns the sass right back, don't let him tell you he doesn't." Jim's all smiles. Yes. He and his first officer get along fine when they're not arguing.

Which also happens a lot.

"Yeah. We didn't use to. The first mission we had together he choked me out and abandoned me on a frozen ice trap of death and monsters. It all worked out though."

Oh how casually Jim speaks of his adventures. Though, when you've literally died, everything else kind of gets put into a weird perspective.

[shardofwinter]

Reynard peers at him. "I... want to say that I've heard of stranger beginnings to friendships. I'm not entirely sure that I can. Should I be impressed at your skills of persuasion or marvel at the bizarre life you've led?"

[smartass_captain]

"Always be impressed by my skills Reynard. Always." Jim can't keep the grin off his face. "I don't know when to quit and failure is never an option."

Says the man who beat an impossible test because he couldn't stand losing to it twice.

"Where there's a will, there's a way, right?"

[shardofwinter]

A hand goes to his chest and he dips his head in a quiet apology before he corrects himself, "I am entirely in awe of your skills, my dear. And your attitude. We shall have to sit down and swap adventure stories one day. I would be distraught if we didn't."

[smartass_captain]

"That I can agree to." Jim finishes off his drink and leans over the table they're sharing.

"For now, would the King care for a dance?"

[shardofwinter]

He grins and sets his glass down. "Well, since you are the captain of the best starship in the Federation fleet... I think that keeps to my standards."

[smartass_captain]

"You're so gracious to allow my costume in your presence." He tease, but Jim's on his feet in no time offering his arm for Reynard to take.

"You can lead, Your Highness. I wouldn't dream of making royalty play backup."

[shardofwinter]

Reynard laughs and takes Jim's arm without any more prompting to lead them both to the ballroom. "I'd better not dip you. I don't think your skirt is that generous."