*Halloween Party Thread* What Are We Made Of? (EVERYONE)

[Christian Moynahan]

The crowd grew to include some truly interesting costumes and characters. From where he was standing with Fiona and Khalidah he could spot or sense just about everyone entering. Some guests were unfamiliar to him. That was to be expected; this was not his party and he was only truly there because he’d been asked. As they briefly chatted with Khalidah, he was able to keep his mind on being social, but in the pause as the hostess moved on Christian admitted to himself that he was beginning to feel a bit odd.

He was not entirely sure why. It was not the dark settling in, thankfully; but then again it had been so long since he had dealt with the dark that he could have been mistaken. No, if anything, it felt like… his energy. The sensation was most akin to something he had not felt in years, and did not particularly care to feel again.

It had been when he was lying on his deathbed at the Jung Facility, his own ability rebelling against him.

Very suddenly he wanted to be at home, with no one around him but Maurelle. Fiona made wonderful company, but he hardly knew her well enough yet to explain the situation to her, especially when it required revisiting a moment in his life that was extremely painful. But he was in the middle of a party, hardly soon enough to leave, and he had brought Fiona out for a reason; he would not abandon her now. He could put up with the energy and deal with it later. It would not kill him; it was simply… a discomfort.

“Perhaps I could introduce you to my friend Nireva,” Christian suggested to Fiona. Nireva’s date had just departed, seemingly leaving Nireva on her own for the moment. And, of course, the term “friend” might have been putting their acquaintanceship a bit freely, but it was easier than giving the long story.

As they made their way through the home, another sense caught Christian’s attention. Now he could tell that a large group had formed around Nireva, including Jen, Ryan, Felicia, and someone he could not identify, but who was nonpowered and probably male. Christian backtracked. He was not entirely interested in dealing with Felicia.

“Hmm. Perhaps a drink or-“ That required going through the kitchen. Never mind. “Oh! I think Dr. Couteau is here.” She was standing with two men he did not recognize at all, but one had an interesting energy signature. “She’s an interesting person to know.”

(Tag: Fiona, and possibly Adele, Richard, and Layton)

——————

All it needed was an impetus. The energy was stirring in Christian now; to activate it, the dark simply needed to put Christian into fight-or-flight. Knowing Christian - it was Christian - the man would interfere with any sort of conflict that took place here, especially if that conflict involved someone he cared about.

The dark, incorporeal but sentient, analyzed Helena Rahal. It recalled Christian’s reaction to Dakari Johessman’s verbal assault on the young woman, back in October 2013, during the meeting of the famine victors. His solution had been very visual. And so, although Christian and Helena did not know each other well, and were to some level competitors, the dark decided Helena held enough importance to serve the role it needed.

The young woman was feeling a bit of natural darkness herself. Irritation. Annoyance. Disappointment. Hurt. All those emotions needed was a little push in the right direction.The dark settled over Helena, drifting imperceptibly into her mind. There it began to focus her thoughts on those negative emotions. Yes. She was completely justified in feeling this way. Abandoned. Alone. Frustrated. And those who had caused her frustration and pain deserved to pay, didn’t they?

It found an image in her mind. Soon something materialized in Helena’s hand. A spear. A psionic construct, but fully corporeal, weighted perfectly, colored to match her costume. The dark was much practiced at this aspect of Christian’s ability.

If Helena were to attack anyone with the spear, its effects would be psionic - mental. A victim would not bleed, but would feel as though he had been impaled, and the pain receptors in his mind would register as such; he would suffer and potentially die of penetrating trauma, despite having no visible wound. Such an injury would have to be treated in the mind, by someone with a mental or psionic ability.

Whether anyone died or was wounded made no difference to the dark, although of course it preferred the option of harm and drama. But all it needed, to begin, was the threat.

(Tag: Helena)

[Helena Rahal]

We start the Final War
Tell me what's worth fighting for
When we know there's nothing more

Annoyance was on the forefront of her mind, as the many issues that were troubling her seemed to team forward. Reier had come out of nowhere to pip her mere months before she was set to unveil her own completed clean energy project. That had been years in the making and everything had pointed to them being the furthest along in the sector. Ark was months if not years behind in their own endeavors and were most likely pursuing a method far outside her and Vital's own. How had this outsider who had never shown interest in the field before beat her to punch in just a matter of months?

Then there was her wife, oh how Felicia vexed continuously, whether the immortal realized it or not. Even during the times when Helena did not feel some sort of grievance with her wife, she would find some new way to get under Helena's skin and cause distress. It almost seemed as if her wife enjoyed provoking reactions from her, just to see how far Helena could be pushed before she finally snapped. That couldn't be a healthy relationship and yet she could not find that amount of courage to sever the connection.

Yet at the very moment it was Alessandro that had her blood boiling, that someone who openly contested her leadership and had such vitriol for those the Company were meant to serve. What had Avian been thinking when she allowed this criminal back into the fold, had fear of her partners grasped so heavily in her heart that she reached out to such a worm? The decision to bring Alessandro back into the Company had been the first of many signs for Helena that she was not to trust her supposed Codirector.

Her fingers flexed in annoyance and she could feel the grip of the spear in her hands. It felt cool, the shaft felt as metal rather than wood, a modern interpretation of the classical era weapon. From the shaft, the tip bloomed into the crossection of the blade, sharp as if it had just came from the blacksmith and a whetstone. She could feel the urge inside her to throw or thrust the weapon into Alessandro's gut and rid the world of one more of its evil occupants. It would have been a service of good to be rid of him for both the Company but all of the world.

That would not do though, not for her with so much she had to lose, not over one irritant. Instead she walked with the spear in hand, her eyes darting to and fro with a clear look of annoyance and defiance on her face. As much as she wanted to plunge the weapon deep into the being of Alessandro, he was not worth the effort, not when she was to set the example the entire Company had to follow. Not when she stressed cooperation to her children.

She found the punch bowl and poured herself a drink. If she was any hotter right now, there would have been sizzle and smoke from the drink. Instead all there was was her dark eyes beneath the helmet watching everyone, waiting for something to go wrong or for all of them to get the hell away.

[Devon Ridgeman]

Something happened on the day he died.
Spirit rose a metre and stepped aside.
Somebody else took his place and bravely cried...
______________________________David Bowie - "Blackstar"

As much as he wanted to remain in the swing of things, Devon knew that his general safety took precedence over any fun he might have been having at the party. The errant fan lodged inside the head of his costume may have been a last-minute addition but, when it had been in full working order, it had definitely been a welcome one. With neither of them having costume electronics in their respective skill sets, the only insight they'd gleaned as to its operation had been from the assortment of instructional sheets that had been bundled in the box along with the mass of foam and fur.

Having been positioned to circulate air through a concealed vent nestled just in front of Foxy's right ear and be operated with a chunky toggle button on his lip - partially hidden amidst a spiralling mess of wires and circuitboard fragments - which Devon could manipulate even while wearing the complete suit, the system had been constructed with a deliberately high-capacity fan in order to make sure the wearer would be kept cool for longer and, for a while at least, it had done the job admirably.

For whatever reason, however, it had wound down to a halt by the time Devon handed the upturned head over to his girlfriend for inspection. "Let's have a look at the fan." Having sat herself down on the couch beside him, Amalia had traded a large bottle of water for the errant centrepiece of Devon's costume and, within moments, he'd already managed to get the thing open and start drinking. From the way he looked, the only way his need for water could have been exacerbated was if he'd been in the desert for a weekend. "If I can't figure out what's wrong with it, Ma might be able to fix it."

"Maybe it's just the batteries..?", Devon panted, slouching on the couch. As far as he could remember, the batteries had been included with the costume, which meant there'd been no way for him to reliably tell how long they'd been supplying the ventilation system with power. Nevertheless, he knew there were more than enough people in the building who could render assistance if needed. Khalidah and Nireva, he knew for sure, had cosplayed before; even doing so together one year.

While he'd encountered the Rahal matriarch already, her granddaughter had, up to now, eluded him. With it being a Rahal party, Devon was almost certain that Nireva was in attendance. If he'd been invited - if not pressganged - into coming along purely for having been taken in by Khalidah and falling for Amalia, then she had no doubt got herself an invite for being biologically related.

The question, of course, was what she'd chosen to come to the party as. With nothing much else for him to do while Amalia gave his costume head a once-over other than eat and drink, Devon thought he might as well try to guess the answer. Could she have come as Korra again, perhaps? Or maybe the costume that wasn't Korra? Beyond those two ideas, he was stumped.

Fresh out of ideas, he returned his attention to Amalia, whose gaze was still poring over the state of Foxy's head. Amidst the conversation filtering across from the other side of the open-plan room, he couldn't hear the faint whirring of the fan which, to him, meant one of two things: either she hadn't quite fixed it or she was keeping it off while her examination progressed.

This soon led Devon to another thought. "Can you even see everything in there..?" It might have sounded a little insulting, but it was an honest question. With his girlfriend's costume incorporating a set of white-out contact lenses as part of her make-up routine, Devon had no idea just how much of her vision was obscured. Did they just give a white tint to her world or did they obscure it in some fashion? "How's it looking? Should we go find Khalidah? Or Niri, maybe?"

[Nireva Hale]

You won't get much closer 'til you sacrifice it all!
You won't get to taste it with your face against the wall!
Get up and commit! Show the power trapped within!
Do just what you want to! Now stand up and begin!
______________________________Muse - Panic Station

Being over four hundred years old, Nireva was rarely one for incredulity. Although she had only her own experiences from which to draw, having not got around to tackling the subject with either her mother or grandmother, she'd been pretty certain that she'd seen all the world and its people had to offer her. For immortals, it was more the advancement of science and technology that gave them something new to witness as opposed to the people making use of either.

Having people masquerade as the opposite gender was nothing new in the slightest, whether by necessity or preference. The original crop of Shakespearean actors had done so on a regular basis due to not permitting women to take to the theatre stage, women passed themselves off as androgynous men in order to obtain things that, in their time, the other gender were more freely afforded. More recently, Helena hadn't always been Helena. The methods might have changed with the centuries, but it was mostly the same to her.

So why had she been so quick to call out her grandmother when she'd revealed that the woman wearing arguably the best costume at the party hadn't been a woman at all? There were all manner of reasons as to why Ryan had elected to clad himself in such a way for Hallowe'en and, at the end of the day, none of them were really her business. Whether Adele had talked him into it or he'd done so out of personal preference was largely irrelevant.

Maybe, she mused to herself as she sipped on the drink Jenna had given her, it was because of how unexpected it had been. Ryan simply wasn't the kind of guy who struck her as the type for crossdressing, even if only for fun at a party. He wasn't overly muscular, but the height difference between him and his fiancée was certainly stark enough for most people to jump to certain assumptions.

That was why, when she spotted Jenna on her way back towards her with Ryan in tow, she couldn't help but watch them as they approached. As tall as he was, the combination of his lack of over-the-top muscle tone and professional-grade shapewear made for a deceptively natural-looking figure. His breasts, more than likely a set of silicone fakes, were about as big as those of her girlfriend and were only made more prominent on his chest with the presence of the borderline skimpy superhero outfit the costume had seemingly warranted.

The zip of his top had been suggestively tugged down about an inch while his shorts barely made it past the midpoint of his rolling thighs. He'd even got the hip-swaying down; something which, in those paws, must have been a tricky thing to maintain. With no underwear that she could see, it was only the plain, standard labcoat that offered Ryan any real decency.

"There's a lot of food in there, don't worry." They'd been chatting ever since Jenna had sidled her way up to him. Nireva had clearly seen as much even with the sheets of glass dividing her from the guests outside in the garden. "Chicken, cold meat, cheese, just about every bit of finger food you can imagine! Khalidah's not one to spare expense on parties. Or so Niri tells me. Hey!"

As they crossed the room, getting closer to where Jenna had initially set out from, one of the ninja chicks offered her counterpart a brief wave. Amidst the reunion, Nireva was certain that she heard someone say her name as they passed by and, for a second, her gaze flitted around in search of a likely culprit. The fact that nearly everyone was wearing a costume made things difficult but, by the time she laid eyes on the ever-so-slightly messy brown hair that adorned the back of (what she assumed was) Christian Moynahan's head, he was already on his way back out the door, heading elsewhere with... someone. Had he wanted to introduce someone to her? Trapped as she was amongst her relatives, her lover and a femBeast, all she had was conjecture which could hopefully wait until later.

"Hey." With a drink to busy herself with for the time being, Nireva had taken off Kitana's facial veil and, with a lack of pockets on her person, had gently tied it around her wrist for safekeeping. Now that she was within touching distance of Ryan and his costume, she was finally able to see all of the little touches that had been set upon him by the make-up artists with whom he'd spent the afternoon. "Nice to see you again, Ryan. Or, uh..." The best one of which she managed to spot was the authentic-looking ID card which, complete with a photograph of his face in full costume, had a full set of information for Dr. Hannah McCoy. "Hannah..?"

"Ryan's fine." Even at this distance, he was nigh-on unrecognisable. Though that, she thought, might have had more to do with how it had been two years since she'd last seen him. Nevertheless, she had to commend the make-up job. "Though there's a lot of people 'round here I don't know. So, for them... I've got a voice that's a bit more fitting. Pretty good, huh?"

"How'd you--..?!" Once again, it was Jenna who looked the more surprised of the two of them. While she could guess that people with the ability to alter their voice at will were out there, Nireva was pretty sure that Ryan didn't have it. She remembered Adele demonstrating her own power with a piece of spare meat at the party two years ago. Had Ryan demonstrated his? She wasn't sure.

Ever the guarded soul, Ryan simply passed his vocal prowess off as 'a trick a friend had talked him into honing'. It was technically true to a degree, but he wasn't about to regale anyone with the story of just how Sophie had indirectly done so. The fake voice seemed to fit his costumed aesthetic more than his real one and, if it impressed his fellow guests - at least, the ones who already knew who he was - then so much the better.

"You, uh... want a drink?" Jenna soon asked. With Nireva already catered for in that department, she saw it fitting to do the same for her new companion. While it didn't need her to get all adventurous with drink-mixing, Ryan's request for cider wasn't all that difficult to fulfill. Everything seemed to have its place. "Khalidah's got enough booze in here to sail a ship on."

"Wasn't Felicia here earlier?" He was sure he'd caught a glimpse of her in the house at some point but, by the time he'd arrived in the vicinity of the food and drink with Nireva and Jenna, she'd gone off to greet another guest.

[Adele D'Alteau]

"My name is Layton Ranta."

“Layton. That's an unusual name.” She knew that she'd seen him in the online chatroom a handful of times in the past, though they'd never really spoken. He seemed harmless enough and wasn't even a blip on her radar screen.

She later learned that Layton was portraying the character Necalli from Street Fighter; she'd never been much of a gamer but had been known to watch Ryan play from time to time while sampling various packages she'd received from her grandfather. By the time he finished playing, she usually forgot what the hell he'd been doing.

When she inquired as to where her husband was, Layton informed her that he'd seen Ryan outside, probably being attacked by an entourage who were quite taken with his costume. “It will probably be a little while before he's able to find his way back in here.” She'd never taken him as being someone who enjoyed being the centre of attention, though he wore the mantle quite well. She, on the other hand, was quite content to melt into the background where she wouldn't be noticed.

A somewhat familiar presence tickled the edges of her consciousness and forced her to look up, briefly meeting Alessandro's gaze. Her fingers tightened around the bottle of wine in her hand and she nodded at him before looking away. At one point in a much earlier time, he'd been Ryan's human partner, and had showed nothing but disdain for her husband, usually referring to him as a 'puppy' or some other term of the canine variety. Fortunately for him, he'd never been on the receiving end of either her or Ryan's ire, and that was most likely why he was still alive.

"So talk to a tall woman in a red catsuit named Khalidah, but avoid her daughter in blue make-up.” Adele looked back at Richard and her grasp on the wine bottle loosened. “Sounds easy enough."

“And stay away from the one who just walked in dressed as a priest. He isn't. Il est un connard.” She paused. “Or you can talk to him. Don't let my personal distaste colour your opinion. Alessandro and I have a history.” Adele lifted the bottle to her lips and drank another mouthful of wine. “I don't mean that kind of history. I'm not that kind of lady. We used to work together a long time ago. Had a few . . . creative differences, I suppose you could say.”

Hearing a set of footsteps coming towards her, she turned her head in the direction of the noise and smiled briefly when she saw Christian. “It seems like all the big movers and shakers are here. How are things?” He looked slightly troubled, but none the worse for wear. As the head of Ark Industries, she knew he kept himself busy.

Nireva soon followed with her girlfriend and Ryan in tow. What a nice little entourage. Adele gestured at him with one of her bloodied hands. “Doctor Hannah McCoy, my date for the evening.” Even in the guise of a woman, she still found him attractive. He pulled off the look with ease and she was almost jealous of how well he handled wearing platform boots without falling and breaking his neck.

"Wasn't Felicia here earlier?" He looked around for the blue-haired daughter of the Rahal matriarch. Adele pointed to her. She was standing in the next room having what looked like a rather intense conversation between herself, her mother, and Alessandro.

“She's right there. Alessandro's here. You should go say hello en le poignardant dans le dos avec un couteau.”

*****

Alessandro certainly knew how to make an entrance. He took her hand and kissed it, giving a little bow as he did so. For a human, he had a very powerful aura; definitely someone to keep an eye on.

“Buonasera. I like your outfit.”

“Grazie,” she responded in kind.

His eyes scanned the small crowd of people occupying the large living area, no doubt looking for Alice and Fiona. “Sono qui? I cannot see them.”

“That's the problem,” Felicia began before her mother could launch into the whole story. “Alice isn't here—but Fiona is. Wearing this weird hologram dress thing or something. I think she's the Queen of Hearts. I don't know.” Probably not the news that he wanted to hear, but whatever. They could always start with Fiona and move onto Alice later when the woman wasn't being so goddamned evasive. “So I guess we can just deal with her first.” No one said they had to do this with the two of them present, and it was probably for the best that Alice wasn't there.

Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Helena glaring sullenly at her, grasping what appeared to be a spear in her hand. Huh. She hadn't had that a few minutes ago. Probably sneaked off into one of Ma's museum-like storage rooms and plucked one out from behind some glass. As long as she didn't threaten to stab anyone with it (gods knew how badly her wife wanted to skewer either her or Alessandro at the moment), Felicia wouldn't take it away from her. What was she so mad about, anyway?

Felicia rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to her mother and Alessandro. “I can go grab her, if you want.”

*****

Languages were more her thing. Included under that vast umbrella were things many people didn't consider to be languages insofar as that you couldn't technically create words with them: mathematics and binary code. Even though she excelled at hard sciences—at least on pen and paper—the reason behind the fan not working properly was escaping her. Maybe it was the wiring. Or it could have been the battery.

"Can you even see everything in there..?" Devon asked.

“Yes, I have x-ray vision,” she quipped back at him. He asked whether they should find Khalidah or Nireva and ask for their assistance. Khalidah looked busy with Felicia and some guy dressed in black whom she didn't recognise. “Probably not the best thing to ask my great grandma anything since she looks kind of busy at the moment.” She wasn't sure whether Nireva would have been much help either, but maybe somewhere over the years she'd picked up some sort of engineering knowledge? "Niri might be the best option."

She was kind of hard to miss in her Kitana get-up, though Amalia had only seen her briefly. “I hate parties sometimes, I swear. Never really got into them when I was in high school or college. Didn't really see the point. Still don't really see the point. I'd rather be taking a bath and reading a good book.” She lay back into the couch cushions and sighed. Halloween was usually her favourite time of the year as the kickoff event of the holiday season, but tonight—well, very suddenly, actually—she just really wasn't feeling very spirited.

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[Fiona Kingsleigh]

Slowly but surely, the party was drawing more and more guests.  Many were complete strangers to Fiona, despite some of the people she had actually "met" online.  Almost everyone there she was meeting for the first time.  Perhaps it was her choice of costume for the evening, that pattern-warping dress she wanted to show off, or perhaps it was simply being guest to one of the most powerful men in the country, but more and more attention was being drawn to her.  More and more Fiona was beginning to feel she was being overwhelmed.

Deep down, the brunette knew her dress would catch attention.  After all, it wasn't an everyday thing to basically wear a flexible LCD screen on your body, or to be introduced to some truly powerful individuals by none other than Christian Moynahan himself.  If there was anything she wanted in life, anything at all, getting connected with these party guests would be the first step.  There must have been a reason why she would come to this, doing everything possible to stand out.  Fiona wanted badly to be impressive.  To get to this stage and be on equal grounds with the elites of society, and show the world she deserved so much more from life than what she had currently.

Her dress grabbed the interest of Khalidah, the hostess for the night, as well as a lady named Helena.  In her mind, Fiona wanted to tell Khalidah it did not require meta-materials to create the dress.  It was made from available technology, and it was everyone else's loss that no one thought to make this costume.  How badly she had wanted to boast to Helena that it really wasn't anything special to anyone that had a high interest in technology.  It certainly wowed her boss, but never once did Christian had to ask how it was done.

Instead, all Fiona could muster was a very quiet "thank you" before clinging even tighter to Christian's arm, wishing nothing more than being home with David, watching a movie they had seen a hundred times.  Just like going to events with her husband, Fiona became a pretty puppet being shown around by a man.  She could hear her inner-self yelling at her.  Why did she want centre stage so badly if she wasn't going to sing a single note?

And so Fiona continued to be a very boring guest, nodding politely as Christian suggested to meet a doctor.  Would that be a medical doctor, or one that stayed in college way too long?  

And then he arrived.

Fiona rolled her eyes at the sight of Alessandro Moretti dressing the way he acted: holier than thou.  The man that she didn't know at all until he began picking fights with her at every turn in the Ark chatroom.  There was only so much of being called a monster for no reason that the woman could tolerate.  Like a surge of energy rushing through Fiona, she stood just a little taller, her iron grip on Christian loosened by an inch, and a very small smile curled up the side of her cheeks.  Moretti had threatened he would come to this party, and he would rock her world.  In this setting?  With Christian beside her, the man Alessandro also insulted at one time?

Fiona would love nothing more than to see him try, and the confidence began to blind her on what was to come.

[Alessandro Moretti]

“Grazie,” Khalidah responded with a well-meaning courtesy and, as much as Alessandro did not like the Rahal family – especially Felicia – he had a professional bond with Khalidah. She treated him with the respect he deserved; she acted as if he was a friend, though he’d attribute that to the conversations they had been having recently. Khalidah saw promise where his current boss saw failure and insubordination.

And despite the bitter hatred Alessandro felt for Helena and all that she stood for, he could not leave the Company. He did not like the direction it was taking; he did not like how Helena, impulsive and brash, thought she knew what the Company needed. To Alessandro, the Company was no longer what it stood for. It was… shambles. But it was still his. He would do what he needed to and he could do it well.

“That's the problem,” Alessandro turned from Khalidah and looked at Felicia; a look of concern rushing across his face. His eyes gazed across the room as he scanned all of the faces before finally settling on Fiona, “Alice isn't here—but Fiona is. Wearing this weird hologram dress thing or something. I think she's the Queen of Hearts. I don't know.” 

Alessandro didn’t particularly care for what Fiona’s outfit was though he wasn’t going to make a point of asking why Felicia thought it apt she tell him. There were more important matters at hand; he cared more about the fact that Alice was not present. The majority of his plan relied on Alice witnessing what Fiona was. What she had done. Everything he worked for; everything he did; was for Alice – it was all to make things right. 

He had watched her grow into the woman she was today and he still loved her as a father loved his children. Nothing would ever strip him of that feeling, despite the Company’s best efforts. For the longest of times, Alice had blamed Alessandro for what happened and it shattered his heart into a thousand pieces. But now he was going to make everything right. 

And he would start with undoing what the Company had done to Fiona and reveal her for the monster she was.

“So I guess we can just deal with her first.” 

“Sí.” Alessandro responded quietly, his eyes fixed on the girl. His entire focus was on Fiona. Were it not for the vehement hatred he was feeling toward her, Alessandro may have been excited. He did not want to have to ruin somebody’s life but he knew he had to. He had to ruin hers just like she ruined his. 

After all, everything that happened was Fiona’s fault, right? 

Alice being ripped from his clutches. Him being dismissed initially from the Company. Alice hating him. 

It was all Fiona.

Well, it wasn’t. Alessandro knew that. But she made a good scapegoat and if this meant he could absolve all of his demons in one swift sweep then he was going to do it with everything he had. 

All he had to do was play along.

“I can go grab her, if you want.”

Alessandro turned his gaze to Felicia, snapping himself out of his reverie; “Please. Me and Khalidah will be upstairs.” He straightened his jacket, his earlier smile having dissipated as quickly as it arrived, “And don’t raise any suspicion. I'll deal with Alice another time.”

Alessandro and Khalidah had planned intimately how this was going to transpire – Alice not being here was a setback but it was nothing they could not work around.

People thought Alessandro was one of the bad guys but, really, he was just a man who stood for what he believed in. And he was going to give Fiona a present tonight that would forever change everything. 

Fiona was going to know what it was to be a monster.

And Alessandro was going to finally make amends.

He followed Khalidah through the house and waited in the room…

[Christian Moynahan]

It was difficult for Christian to tell whether Fiona was enjoying herself. Certainly she was worried about her husband at home, as ill as he had been. But Christian had been hoping the party would distract her just a bit. It did seem to at times - talking to Khalidah, for one, about her costume - but at others things seemed strained.

Indeed, Christian thought Fiona’s costume was the best - not discounting all the work and effort that had gone into Ryan’s - but the dress was an inventive use of simple (to Christian) technology. Perhaps the appreciation of its genius was that Christian already understood it without having to ask. Or perhaps he already had an intuitive understanding of how his employees thought.

The change that Fiona underwent shortly after Christian suggested greeting Adele hardly went unnoticed by him. Fiona was hanging on closely enough that the shift in her demeanor and posture were particularly obvious. What had caused that? Something about the company around them?

“Things are well. About the same as always. There’s work, of course, and… matters.” Adele and Maurelle had never liked each other; he was not aware of the reason for that. But, Slenderman costume aside, the wedding ring on his finger was not exactly hidden; and anyone who knew of his relationship with Maurelle could guess who possessed the matching band. "I hope you have been well enough also."

He gestured to Fiona with a smile. “This is Mrs. Fiona Kingsleigh, a coworker.” He seldom thought of himself as a superior; perhaps he had spent too much of his past career as a middle-manager. There was also little point describing Fiona’s position as head of security. “Fiona, this is Dr. Adele Couteau, a friend. She saved my life once,” he added, only a bit lightly. He had not exactly been on the edge of death following his concussion one New Year’s, but, given the circumstances, he still regarded it as such.

Nireva and Jenna arrived with Ryan, adding to the fair-sized group. “Good evening,” he said, still smiling, unsure how much Nireva wanted to reveal about how they knew each other; he also gave a little bow to Ryan. “Dr. McCoy, a pleasure,” he said with a small chuckle. When Ryan asked about Felicia, though, he frowned slightly. Hopefully their group would not grow to include the other. That hope was confirmed by Adele’s response; Christian was now conversational and nearly fluent in French due to his wife’s preference for her native tongue, and so he understood the full remark. He had to mask his approval.

Suddenly Fiona moved away from him and Christian turned to see Felicia make a vague excuse before absconding with the woman. Odd, but not out of character for Felicia. And, as a bonus, the woman left with only that one comment for him, for once. He had no reason to think anything strange of it, so he just let it go, and did not follow her.

The dark did.

Ill will and dark portents were part of the dark’s nature. It could not help but pick up on them when they were so near by. Having dealt with Helena, and found it to be less than fruitful but still promising, it decided subtlety would instead be the key for the evening.

For now.

It dispersed itself into further nonbeing, better to keep a track of what was happening throughout the dwelling. This was the night. All the dark needed was the right impetus.

[Nireva Hale]

My little girl! My little girl, where are you?!
My fucked-up world! My fucked-up world destroyed you!
Day after day! Day after day, I get it now! I just go on without you!
Twisted inside, six miles high! I rehearse how to say goodbye to you!
______________________________Static-X - Skinnyman

All of a sudden, it seemed, Jenna's return to the kitchen had sparked some kind of migration amongst a noticeable proportion of the gathered partygoers. Whether out of a simple desire to either fetch themselves a drink, something to eat or to get another look at Ryan and his frankly unbelievable costume, the former trio which had consisted of the ninja couple and Starlord had become a nonet of costumed guests. Although both of Nireva's immediate forebears had since gone elsewhere, her girlfriend's temporary "abduction" of Ryan Alcroft had enticed his fiancée over to their little corner of the Elysium ranch.

Unlike many, Adele had gone for a decidedly minimalist approach to her outfit, producing a mildly macabre Lady Macbeth look through the use of a slender white dress and copious amounts of what she hoped was stage blood marring her hands and wrists. Electing to mostly stay quiet for the moment, Nireva decided to observe her future conversation partners as they trickled towards her. Other than their conversation - which had become somewhat sporadic from the myriad interruptions which had plagued them over the course of the evening thus far - Andrew had been mostly silent, whether busying himself with enjoying a drink with his ninja chicks or checking out everyone else's costumes as they passed by.

Which led her to the so-called Doctor Hannah McCoy. Ryan didn't seem to mind or even overly care that the love of his life had sauntered her way over to him flanked by a pair of costumed men. One of them, the dreadlocked warrior she'd caught a glimpse of earlier, had a set of vaguely Nordic features buried amongst the face paint and weird contact lenses. A short distance from Adele's opposite arm was the Wildcat cosplayer she'd managed to recognise back when she and Jenna had first shown up to the party, walking mostly in lockstep with the rest of his impromptu trio. A few names were passed around. Ryan Alcroft and Adele Couteau, she already knew, having met the both of them a couple of years ago in New York. Another (holi)day, another party.

Layton Ranta, though? He was new. As, she realised, was his sort-of-British accent. It was slightly reminiscent of Ryan's but, like the younger - and bluer - man, it was peppered with something she didn't quite recognise. European, most likely, but nothing from around the Mediterranean. "Doctor Hannah McCoy, my date for the evening." Almost in unison, Nireva, Jenna and Ryan all smiled as they listened to Adele politely keep up the masquerade. It perhaps hadn't been all that considerate, Nireva thought to herself, for Felicia to drop the bombshell of Hannah's identity the way she had. To them, it was just an elaborate costume; something Ryan had been talked into wearing as a change from the subjects stereotypically found in Hallowe'en costumes worn by men. Maybe he'd got bored of whatever he'd worn in previous years and asked Adele to help him with ideas?

With the exception of Adele and perhaps Felicia and Helena, nobody knew the full story behind Ryan's willingness and apparent enjoyment of obfuscating his outward masculinity the way he was. "They, uh..." Ryan slowly began, plumping for his normal voice. On his side of the group, everyone had already been made aware of who he really was. What was a couple more people who'd already met his future wife? "...they already know it's me, Lady Macbeth."

"Yeah, I'm... kinda sorry about that." Nireva sighed, placing her now empty glass on the nearby counter. Not entirely sure who in the group knew - and didn't know - that Felicia was her mother, she instinctively kept things safe and simple. "Felicia gave the secret away to Jenna and I a little while ago."

Before the subject of her mother was shelved for whatever would come next in their conversation, Ryan managed to ask his fiancée just where she'd gone. "She's right there." The brief gesture was enough to carry Ryan's gaze aside for a moment, right before the subsequent revelation noticeably darkened it. "Alessandro's here. You should go say hello en le poignardant dans le dos avec un couteau..." Had she heard that right?! Being, or so she assumed, the only Francophone in earshot that wasn't set to marry the diminutive doctor, Nireva was a little taken aback by how matter-of-factly Adele had suggested that Ryan greet one of their guests by ramming a knife into his head. Everyone else, it seemed, had the morbid suggestion fly right over their heads. For their own good, probably.

"I'll... think about it." The last to approach and complete the new ensemble came as some slight surprise to Nireva. Having no real idea on how Intellitouch stood on the whole Ark Industries debate in an official capacity, she hadn't really been expecting the corporation's CEO - Christian Moynahan - to make any kind of appearance, let alone be caught up in the spirit of the occasion to the extent where he was inclined to bring a friend along. Being the first to spot him, Adele had jumped to the head of the line when it came to bringing him into their little circle. "Things are well. About the same as always," he responded, not really giving too much away.

It was now that she had been brought face-to-face with Christian again that Nireva realised that, since their sparring match at her local gym back in LA, they had seen neither hide nor hair of one another. Beyond seeing him wearing a set of bunny ears during a press conference, the two of them had mostly fallen out of contact. Presumably, his face and reputation preceded him so, rather than waste time introducing himself, he skipped right onto the requisite pleasantries on behalf of his companion. "This is Mrs. Fiona Kingsleigh, a coworker. Fiona, this is Dr. Adele Couteau, a friend. She saved my life once."

A brief good evening later, his gaze soon shifted to Ryan. "Dr. McCoy, a pleasure." The small chuckle which accompanied the polite bow of his head was enough to stop Ryan from responding for a brief moment. Other than the nine of them - or eight, as Fiona was soon called away by a passing Felicia - the only other people in the open-plan room were sat on a couch at the opposite end, where the kitchen and dining area had long since given way to a living room. Despite her make-up and the fact that she was busy with what looked like a giant mascot head, Nireva could recognise Amalia anywhere. It was only when Jenna strode over to fetch herself another drink that she managed to spot the bulky, mostly crimson figure sat beside her niece.

Devon! Under all that foam, fur and mismatched circuitry, even Devon Ridgeman had shown up to the party. It had been a little over five years now since he'd been taken in by Khalidah and, having managed to live through Felicia's disdain with her help and pick up a girlfriend, it was a little jarring to see him looking so... well, looking so sociable. Just a couple of years ago, Jenna had told her that Devon was a timid, spooky-looking, socially awkward mess and now..? It was almost as if they'd traded that Devon in for a new one. She couldn't help but smile as she watched the two of them from afar, seemingly debating some kind of costume trouble.

"I haven't seen you for quite a while now, Mr. Moynahan." Deciding to get back to her own business, Nireva fell right back into her role as a happy partygoer. It wasn't going to be too convincing - especially to an audience of seven - if she acted as though the two of them had never met. She studied at UCLA, he'd had a press conference there once. At the very least, Jenna could jump to a couple of conclusions and, from the looks of the rest of her company, none of them had skipped the queue for the intelligence department. "Is all still well at Ark?"

[Allyson Pendergrass]

“Ugh,” Allyson scorned toward the bathroom, “We’re going to be late!”

Tonight was the night for the annual Halloween dance that Khalidah Rahal always put on. Her parties were usually beyond exceptional and, for as long as Mrs Pendergrass could recall, she had always partaken in most of the Rahal get-togethers. It was a privilege, really, to have been considered one of the invitees and not one of the plus ones. It was an honour.

It was a shame, then, that Allyson’s husband did not see it that way. To him, it was just ‘another party’.

But no, not this time. It was different this time.

Khalidah had sent Allyson a rather cryptic text message telling her to ensure that she was at the party just in case something were to happen and Allyson needed to ‘step in’. Immediately speaking, Allyson wasn’t sure whether this was a good or bad thing though she had learned in her years not only under the employ of the Rahals, but as a good friend to the family, to never question their motives. Everything Khalidah and Co. did was for a reason and though that reason was never really clear, it was always important. Something must have been happening – though that was at the back of Allyson’s mind at the moment.

She was actually going to go out and enjoy herself. Granted, it wasn’t as she’d envisioned, but she was going out. Ideally, Allyson would leave Richard at home and let him mope around though he had insisted (or rather, used his ability on her and made her feel exceptionally guilty) that he come. So that was that – and Richard was taking his time.

“Come on! Why do you always do this!?” Allyson screamed through the bathroom door,
“I’m picking a tie!” Richard responded.
Sighing, Allyson groaned, “You don’t need a tie! You’re dressing as a goddamn lumberjack – and I’m Little Red Riding Hood! You do not need a tie!”
“But I want to look good!”

Ugh.
Why was he like this?

It took another thirty five minutes but eventually, they were there. They’d stayed in a nearby motel for the night prior as Allyson didn’t fancy the long journey from New York to Vegas on the day.

Once they arrived, it appeared the party was in full swing; there was a crowd of people standing around a table talking though Khalidah was nowhere in sight. There was a man who seemed to be enjoying his own company in the far corner of the room though she didn’t pay much attention to that.

What struck Allyson the most was that nearly everybody in the party was an Evo. They all had some power. Allyson recognized a few people though Felicia and Khalidah, the ones she’d came to see, seemed to be gone. Perhaps they were dealing with stuff.

Nonetheless, Allyson entered the house and approached the larger of all the groups – her red cloak dragging across the floor. She had a blue and white checkered blouse, complete with a basket of bread. She’d approached them just at the butt-end of their conversation, "I haven't seen you for quite a while now, Mr. Moynahan."

Mr. Moynahan? The Moynahan who ran Ark Industries? Well, this was fascinating. She’d never met Christian Moynahan though was a fan of what he’d been able to achieve. She waited until he and Nireva had finished speaking before she waved Richard off to fetch some drinks and opened her mouth.

“Mr Moynahan. I’m so sorry to intrude like this. But I’m a big fan of your work,” She said, extending her hand to the man.

For a moment, she’d completely forgotten her surroundings and social etiquette.
And, for a moment, she could feel everything as she stood in the group. There was an unnaturally large presence of extremely potent abilities that put Allyson at unease. Though, as she looked at Christian, something else felt different entirely. Perhaps it was nothing. Perhaps this was the reason Allyson needed to be here? Was Khalidah expecting the CEO of Ark Industries to do something unruly? Allyson highly doubted so and she suspected that whatever it was, Khalidah was busy dealing with that now – which would have explained her absence.

Irrespective of what was to come, time would tell.
It always did.

[Andrew Reynolds]

Andrew being Andrew, it took a while for him to find a bathroom in the place, and then he was there for a while, so some time passed where he was not part of the festivities. His cousin Teagan would have chided him on not having taken care of such “business” before he showed up at the party, but he was a time traveler, not a future-seer. He didn’t know when nature was gonna come a-callin’.

But he returned to the party, with a nice clean smell about him, and found that most everyone had grouped up in one area. That did make it easier to find everyone, but also more confusing when talking to people. There were a few new arrivals and also a couple of people he had seen before but did not see now, including, conspicuously, the hostess, a.k.a. his boss. He would have said hi to her too. Also the chick with the trippy dress, and Athena too. Who knew? Maybe they had all made for the bathrooms. This house had to have a zillion.

Andrew poured himself a glass of something and proceeded toward the group. Okay, there were some really weird costumes in attendance now. He would have to think about where those were from. His idea of culture mostly stemmed from the future. That was unfortunate, since the future apparently was starting to not exist.

He showed up in the crowd again behind Little Red Riding Hood and a guy wearing plaid, suspenders, and a tie. Okay. “Oh, wow. The party’s really jumpin’ now. What’d I miss?” He was not talking to anyone in particular, but as he was moving around the group, anyone could reply. Or ask him who he was (other than being Star-Lord for the night), since he really did not recognize anyone aside from Nireva, Jenna, and the bigwigs anymore.