Unmasked

[brave_heart_verity]

Verity's sitting on one of the benches around the Forum, all pink braids and French stripes and soft jeans, idly fingering a new ring and studying a brochure someone handed her. Not the Brochure, just a flier for a temporary costume shop. (Both the shop and the costumes being temporary, one of those things is very important when the other disappears.) The pictures are bright and cheerful, almost inappropriately so. This is a highly sanitized, 'safe' for 'children' sort of Halloween being peddled. Meanwhile, Bobbi sniffs around to check for changes to the area and signs of adventure. She's a pupper of valor and courage, ready to take on any strange sniffs and mysterious smells.

"Is your Halloween tradition to put a mask on, or take one off?" The question begins when she lifts her attention to the wider worlds and does the now-habitual mental and visual sweep of her surroundings. As casually as it's asked, she knows this is a deeply probing question, so she'll give anyone wary of answering an easy out. "You coming to the Ball?"

Comments

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

The thin man in the fine suit flashes a bright grin indeed, taking off his hat to answer, "why not both?"

[brave_heart_verity]

"People might start thinking you're two-faced," she answers with an expression that's almost, almost, the quiet exasperation with everything she used to wear. But there's this little curl in one corner of her mouth giving her away...

Bobbi is so excited to see one of her favorite tall ones! Can Schon's shoes survive being puppy-pounced?

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

"They don't already?" he counters with a smirk. Leaving his cane leaning unattended against nothing at all, he hangs his hat on it and extends a hand to the inquisitive pooch. Those shoes weren't made for pouncing, so it's likely best for all if he can divert the little dog's exuberance to more productive avenues.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Well..." the word is so drawn out it's practically drawled. Quite the feat for a Manhattanite. "Some people haven't met you yet."

Bobbi is easily diverted. Schon gets sniffs and licks before she remembers her manners and sits down to daintily set a paw in his hand. This is how good girls do it right? She's a good girl!

[u_can_have_it_4_a_song]

Bobbi is a very good girl--she gets a proper shake, and then vigorous ear-scritches. Verity gets a laugh, but no scritches (that's someone else's purview). "That must be it."

[slayers_desire]

April recognizes both the puppy, and her owner. She greets both with a friendly smile. "I have had to wear a mask for other reasons than Halloween. Plus, after seeing some costumes take over their owners... I don't wear any for Halloween anymore."

"There is going to be a Ball? Sounds exciting."

[brave_heart_verity]

They are rather distinctive, for all they're pretty ordinary. April gets a smile from Ver and a happy wuff-tailwagging combo from Bobbi. The pupper will continue to be excited, despite Verity's growing concern over what's alluded to and the possible implications. (In a place like this, where ideas sometimes seem to come to life...)

"That's probably a good idea," she admits. "There is, yeah. Schon hosts one every year. Last year's was amazing. Oh! And thank you for the dress you helped Hunter with. It's beautiful, I love it."

[slayers_desire]

April kneels down to give Bobbi a friendly pat in greeting.

"Samhain is also a day of peace for demons and vampires in my world. Most demon and vampiric races take the day to celebrate their heritage, and do their best to not clash with humans."

"But the ball sounds lovely. I might ask my father if he would like to attend."

April smiles at the compliment. "Thank you. It is not often I get asked to design a simple white dress. But when he explained his desire to create a piece of art work, I was more than happy to help out."

[brave_heart_verity]

Bobbi sniffs at April and wags even harder after the pat. Friendly tall ones are the best tall ones!

"Oh, that sounds nice. I think I'd rather that than trick-or-treating." She's not sure if the demons and devils where she's from ever took a day off. She's gonna guess 'no'.

"The more, the merrier. It's an open invitation. Your father?" She'd been expecting April might ask her husband or bring her kids. It'd be good for little Loki to have someone his own age to play with.

"Maybe you two should collaborate more often."

[slayers_desire]

"Yes. Most years, my father likes to spend time with our whole family on Halloween. So if we are going to the ball, it would be nice to invite him." April will certainly bring the children. They will look adorable in their costumes.

"He is a very creative artist. And collaborations would be a good idea."

http://tinyurl.com/jjjz6se

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Well, consider your urge to find strange sniffs sated, Bobbi. For you have stumbled upon one Corellian who has spent several hours flushing and repairing fuel lines in a light freighter and everybody who's anybody knows that all the incredible smells come from Han's galaxy.

To a puppy nose there's the salt of sweat to smell, the sour of the solvent that the Captain uses to dissolve the unwanted buildup, the acid scent of the fuel, the sweet of gas that powers the torch that he's been working with. He's a veritable buffet for canine olfactory glands. Less so to a human nose because he washed up before he decided to go for a walk though the Nexus and grab something to eat.

Han is tempted, as most people with even half a heart are, to pet the dog when it approaches. Then he thinks about the work he's been doing with his hands and changes him mind. Would the dog be fine? Probably. But he doesn't want to find out that he's wrong.

In regard to her question, Han just looks at Verity blankly. As if he were waiting for an explanation.

http://bit.ly/2eEclGJ

[brave_heart_verity]

OMG such sniffs! Han is a wonderful tall one, bringing her an adventure like this! She's going to be investigating every inch of him she can reach. (Admittedly, not a large portion of him, but she lives in hope.) All the mysterious and, yes, incredible smells layered over the more familiar scents of Han make for a happy doggo.

Verity lifts her eyebrows at Han, then smiles and nods to the seat next to her. If he wants to sit, he's welcome. "Halloween's a holiday where people dress up in costumes. Kids go around 'trick or treating', asking people to give them candy and threatening to pull a trick on them otherwise. It sprang up out of old religious beliefs about the night being one where the world of the spirits is closer to the world of the living, so close people can cross over. The costumes were to trick the spirits into not hurting people or following them home."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Han looks at the empty seat and after a moment or two of weighing his options, he does actually sit. The ring and the flier have been glanced over by the Captain, but he doesn't say anything about either. In both cases ... it's not all that likely he knows the significance of what he's looking at unless it's an engagement ring. They do have that custom where he's from too.

"Seems kind of silly."

[brave_heart_verity]

It's exactly the kind of ring he understands, in that case, and still new enough for her to be fiddling with it constantly, the way kids can't help but poke a loose tooth with their tongues. The movement isn't anything she's aware of doing, but the weight of the ring is always on her mind.

Bobbi sits down at their feet when Han sits, waiting for an invitation to come up and cuddle between the tall ones. She's such a polite girl.

"Yeah, well. I'm sure the holidays in your far-away galaxy all make perfect sense." It's not that she doesn't agree. Halloween is terribly silly and she doesn't enjoy it much. How could she love a holiday all about wearing (changing?) masks? Still, she looks excited about some aspect of it. Balls mean dressing up. Maybe that's it?

[twelve_not_fourteen]

He'll file that knowledge away with the other things he's come to know about her over time, then. It jostles a couple memories lose as he files it. The way she so implicitly insisted that she could never run a fake wedding scam and his own reflections of the institution of marriage. And how his thoughts had changed over the years.

"None of the religious ones do make a lot of sense to me." He admits. Though he knows how much they can mean other people. Han's observed it in the way that Chewbacca feels about life day. Still. Costumes? Masks? It's not really his scene.

Bobbi is a good girl. Look at her sitting there, all behaved. Again, it's a shame that he's been working all day and is afraid the little floof will start licking his hands if he tries to play with her.

"Your dog has this look like she's waiting to come up."

[fightlikehell]

"Are there people who really don't want to go to a ball?" especially one of a Nexus scale. Matt comes around in his way, it's a great place to get some air and walk around without any worries or a cane. And say, the company is never ever bad by any stretch.

"I think my tradition is to trade one mask for another. I...haven't given much thought to who or what I'd be this go 'round."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Silly people." She can think of one or two people she's met who might not want to go, but why would she want to think about them right now? Better to get in line to greet Matt, because Bobbi beat her to it. Pupper hops and bops to try and nose Matt's hand. Verity leans over the knee-high excitement to give Matt a kiss.

"You do that nightly," she reminds him. "Maybe you and Bobbi can do a group costume?"

[fightlikehell]

"Very silly people. They don't know what they're missing." Or who they'd be missing out on meeting. What a concept of missed connections. Matt is very happy to meet that greeting kiss and extend his hand for pets whenever Bobbi sees fit to be still enough for them.

"The invitation is open, seems about right that she'd come too. Hmmm." As he's thinking he can slip his arm around Verity's waist and give all the petting that is coming to their doggie.

[brave_heart_verity]

"Their loss." It's a missed connection she prefers not to think about. How differently their lives would have turned out if either of them have skipped the ball last year. It's too sad to contemplate.

Bobbi will settle down once she sees pets are coming. She's a good girl who has good manners and sometimes will remember that.

"And you know, blind men get to take their dogs wherever they want," she teases. "So no excuses." His arm fits so nicely there. She leans into his hold and drapes her arms around his shoulders. Universal signal of two people stupidly in love. It's only fair to warn away anyone who doesn't want to catch cooties. "I know you'll look amazing."

[fightlikehell]

"More room to dance." That is a good thing indeed. And there won't be any reason to pretend to bump into anyone or anything. Matt grins at the thought of a chance to cut a rug.

Standing snugly together he relaxes even more. It's the Verity effect. Her words make his grin brighten and Matt tilts his head to the side, still thoughtful. "Well if she can go wherever I do, I really have to find a good option."

[mosthonest]

"Halloween?" Says Iago, as if tasting the word. It sits oddly on his tongue; unconsciously he is testing out how to pummel it into a palatable iamb and a half.

"Some foreign feasting day?" Iago's looking at the same brochure, studying the pictures carefully. "In my homeland, we have some days where we go masked. Before the solemn Lenten season, by custom we hide our face and thus reveal our baser selves. With impunity we gorge our hunger to bursting, and slake our lust til our will's all spent. It is a night for much revelry and dance. Is it so on your Halloween?"

Even blackhearted, murdering backstabbers can't ignore adorable puppers though. He leans down and offers Bobbi a hand to sniff. She'd smell sweat, wine, the ocean... all the scents that would cling to you if you put your sticky fingers all over a medieval Mediterranean city.

Yay, you're back!

[brave_heart_verity]

Sorry, Iago, the English language refuses to conform to any standards. Blame your author for codifying so much of it so haphazardly. If it helps, Ver looks genuinely pleased to see him again. He was a fun debate partner, and she's got a soft spot for trouble.

"That'd be... Carnivale?" Her pronunciation is a decent attempt at the correct accent. She makes an effort few of her countrymen do. Sometimes it's the efforts made that matter more than the successes. Then again, that sort of thinking is where martyrs come from. (And heavens know she sounds very silly sometimes.)

"I've heard of that, it sounds magical." That's her way of complimenting and cursing something at the same time. "It's sort of like that. Some people call it Samhain. It's the night between the autumn equinox and winter solstice. Some people think that the walls dividing this world from the spirit world are thinner, and spirits can cross over."

If he knows it by another name, she hopes she's providing the information he needs to figure it out. Either way, since he seems curious how it's celebrated locally, she'll continue. "The costumes started off as attempts to scare away the spirits or confuse them or something, but now it's mostly to have fun. And kids dress up and go around 'trick or treating', demanding candy or some other treat on penalty of earning a trick if you don't pay up."

Bobbi is simply enamored of Iago's travelogue of sniffs. He's clearly had adventures and she's going to learn all about them in the grand pupper tradition: shamelessly checking him all over for more sniffs and then making up her own story to explain them. She's one of those trusting sorts, so he can pet her if he'd like.

\o/ Whoo, I'm glad to be back!

[mosthonest]

Iago smiles. He has a very nice smile--guileless and charming. It's one of his best weapons, but at least this time it's somewhat genuine. Though horrendous gender roles may be deeply ingrained in him, he always does enjoy the company of sharp-tongued women.

Also dogs. Dogs put him in a good mood, too. He squats down further for both his and Bobbi's benefit; so he can properly scritch her behind the ears, and she can get a better sense of him with her nose. Further sniffs will reveal his adventures in war and the market: horses and blood and human refuse and smoke and spices. The smell of the church probably mingles with the smell of the whorehouse on him: blessed incense and cheap perfume, wine and ale.

He looks up at Ver.

"Carnivale, giusto, signora. We sin disguised, so we may be may be properly naked and ashamed in God's eyes on Ash Wednesday." He adds dryly, "For it makes salvation sweeter if we've truly earned Perdition first." Sorry, Ver. Bringing around the Jesus talk for an encore.

"The antique Romans had a feast like that, to mark the summer's end and celebrate their honored dead. Though we've made it now the day of All Saints. For my part I'd rather speak with the holy martyrs than your common spirit. As one who has slain many, I'd as well not seek out the dead lest they quarrel with me, if the souls of infidels do walk." Where Iago's from, ghosts are not unheard of, so that's probably a wise course.

Seasonally appropriate joy: http://bit.ly/2eOtkah

[brave_heart_verity]

A bad boy with a charming smile? Kill her now and let Hela have her. She honestly thought being in love with a good man was supposed to protect her from these things, but nope. That particular button is still installed. Not that she wants to run off and do all those things he might still think she charges for, she just... secretly, deep down, enjoys the trouble. More precisely, she enjoyed being the one trusted to help him through it.

Everyone should be in a better mood when dogs are around. Bobbi's in a better mood when tall ones are around because that means scritches and sniffs and all kinds of good things. It's a good trade-off. Not all of the scents are easy for her to place, but that just makes it more exciting! Once Iago's down, Bobbi goes up, front paws on one of his knees so she can sniff his face. There may be licking in his future.

More Jesus talk? Awesome. She doesn't get enough of that at home. "But doesn't your god know what you do regardless of what you're wearing?"

Her world had its strange things too. She's never going to blame anyone for taking precautions against strangeness. But let's skip the talk about killing people and what comes back to haunt people. This time of year is hard enough for her. "Halloween is all hallows' eve, which I think is the night before that? So I guess you're supposed to be in church or something."

lol whoops, putting this comment in the right place this time XD http://bit.ly/2dNFFxv

[mosthonest]

Well she's certainly come to the right person. Iago is a big old heap of trouble in a doublet and leather britches. And it's the masochist in him, but he likes women willing to try to take him down a peg. It's all much easier to take it all in stride if he's not married to them.

When it comes to dogs, Iago is used to battle-hardened warhounds. They have a lot less fluff. But he can respect ferocious pooches of all kinds. Bobbi gets head scritches, under-the-chin scritches and chest scruff scritches. He really does like dogs quite a lot. They demonstrate that blind adoration and trust that would behoove more humans to show, in his opinion. Although then perhaps things would be much less fun.

"Truly, He does. 'Tis why men's thoughts are so lascivious and wretched. They know they keep them only 'twixt themselves and God. But when their faces are hid from each others' sight, they then perform the sins they dream. And so their guilt is increased, when their actions too are known only by their own souls and Christ. There's none but God to punish them, or fasting and the lash by their own hand if act they in the stead of the Most High. Wherefore else should we hold Lent sacred, if we've nothing to repent?"

"Indeed. But methinks the children of my city would better like it the more if we practiced as you do that night."