Spooky Scary Skeletons!

[magpiemythos]

Loki had no idea if any other places were having Halloween bashes, but that wasn't gonna stop him from having his fun! Pub-crawls were a thing if that were the case! The Viper's Pit had been decked out in the spirit of the season, the drinks, boozy and non were themed for the holiday, and aside from the magically drugged glitter one could play with down in the club, there were all manner of edibles.

While the changes were mild inside the building itself, the field had undergone the most changes, from the disappearance of the arena and bathhouse to the forests normally vaguely in the middle distance having been drawn in much closer, ringing a large open field where several bonfires were crackling merrily, each stocked with comfortable places to sit, as well as marshmallows, skewers, and several options for meats to be grilled over an open flame. To the east of the clearing was an expansive-looking corn maze, and standing vigil over it from somewhere in the vague center was a large Victorian-looking house. Anyone who wanted to go snooping would find the maze and home both charmingly haunted by costumed staff looking forward to the chance to scare the pants off some unsuspecting partygoers.

Nothing about the place seems off, or strange. Bats fly about overhead, the moon is large and positioned quite perfectly to make the haunted house look charmingly spooky, and the woods that spread around the clearing are just begging for people to dare to creep down it's paths, jumping at the shrieks that echo from the maze, or just their own imaginations running away with them. Not that there seems to be anything scarier than some mild-mannered wild-life like the owls hooting in the trees- it seems the woods are more designed for a nice nighttime stroll for folks who might want a bit of quiet than anything.

Of course everyone wore costumes. They did right? It's a costume party after all! And if anyone didn't have one, the staff of the bar were quite happy to furnish some of the spares they had on hand, even if it might be something so simple as an animal headband, a pair of wings, or a sheriff's badge and toy gun.

No one was quite certain when things started becoming weirder. Not specifically, and no one was sure why it had happened, given the first sign of things going wrong? Was one of the poor unsuspecting waiters who'd been wearing a cute little bear headband? Was suddenly now a very large, and very confused grizzly bear in a darling little vest trying to balance the tray he'd been carrying on one paw, and attempting to sort out how to get all the drinks off without tipping them onto the customers, who were now a table of animals of varying sizes and shapes, as well as one very bewildered knight, whose plastic armor was suddenly much more realistic and cumbersome.

And from the yelps of surprise and alarm echoing quickly through the Pit and the yard, it was clear this was not an isolated incident.



((ooc: Costume bash! OOC info is here leave any questions in there! Feel free to tag either pre or post-costume realism! For toplevels please use the Trick Or Treat system! If you're just wanting cute fluff or maybe minor spooky stuff, just leave 'Treat' in your toplevel's subject line. If you're here for scary chases and angst, or being a monster to hunt folks for fun (keeping in mind the AVF is in effect!) just post 'Trick'! If you're open to both just put both in! Hopefully this'll make it easier to match up what folks are hoping to play with here even if you're going in otherwise blind. The costumes will revert come sunrise with no ill effects- happy hauntings!))

Comments

Isamu says Treat

[itmeanstruth]

“Oh! A sphynx!” Isamu whispered excitedly as he saw the creature on the bar.

It wasn’t everyday you saw that particular XXXX class beast outside of the Gringotts vaults. Oh, he could laugh about the number of times he watched well-meaning patrons unable to access their valuables because they could not devise the proper answer to a riddle.

“Greetings.” He smiled politely, eager to test his mental faculties with a riddle.

Isamu wasn’t a card-carrying member of the Sphynx Club at Hogwarts for nothing. (Yes, that really was a thing!)

Re: Isamu says Treat

[the_rebel_son]

"Greetings." She speaks turning slightly to face the person walking up to the bar. The face is obviously the female Lucifer he met earlier but angel no longer.

"You've come to be challenged?" She intones without much movement except the twitch of her tail.

"Then answer as many as you can before I send you away shamed by lack of correctness." Her head tilts.

"The cock crew,
The sky was blue:
The bells in heaven
Were striking eleven.
‘Tis time for this poor soul
To go to heaven."

[itmeanstruth]

Isamu thought quietly for a moment. He knew he’d heard that before. As soon as the reference came to him, he laughed.

“Ah! Ulysses! A riddle designed to poke fun at the nature of riddles - ironic, in this context, but all too enjoyable... the fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush.”

[the_rebel_son]

She is not bothered that he responded correctly there are others.

"You know the modern, but do you remember the ancient?"

She pauses for a moment and then recites:

“Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.”

[itmeanstruth]

Isamu tapped his chin thoughtfully, running through countless mythological texts in his head. These were fun indeed!

“What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Isamu answered with a smile. “Exhilarating, really - riddles that cannot be solved with deduction alone, but instead require one to be well-read...”

Fortunately for Isamu, he never met a book he didn’t like.

[the_rebel_son]

"There are many that are lost to modern minds." Lucifer tells him, of course Lucifer knew many that were never to be found in books.

"What is the answer?" Lucifer asks thoughtfully, patiently waiting while ordering a glass of wine while she is still lounging on the bar.

[itmeanstruth]

This time, Isamu looked at Lucifer warily.

“I believe that was the answer, if I am not mistaken, ‘What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He thought for a moment more. “Unless you are looking for a pun based on a hebrew homonym, ‘ari’ meaning both honey and lion, in addition to a potentially allusive sexual context in the Song of Solomon.”

[the_rebel_son]

"There is a specific answer." She relaxes down on her elbows, hands folded under her chin as she waits. "Most of what you speak is modern interpretations. I seek the original answer from the mouth and actions of Samson himself."

She is waiting to see which of these he might settle on.

[itmeanstruth]

At this point, Isamu was getting a bit nervous. He was sure the correct answer to the riddle was honey from within a lion carcass. But the way the sphinx asked him to clarify made him second guess himself - because while the answer was supposedly based on Samson’s actions, but the answer was technically given to the Philistines by his wife. Indeed, had the thirty men not plowed with his heifer, they wouldn’t have solved the riddle...

“What is sweeter than honey. What is stronger than a lion.” He repeated again, deciding to go with his original answer - albeit very hesitantly.

[the_rebel_son]

Her tail flicked impatiently as she listened to the repetition. "The recount of the original would be a more pleasing answer than the coerced answer that displeased the original person to ask the riddle."

It is an answer but not the one she would prefer.

[itmeanstruth]

Isamu gulped, but tried not to show it.

“With all due respect, Madam Sphinx, that is the proposed answer as written in the text itself, though as you pointed out, it was indeed relayed... a cautious reminder to maintain one’s integrity when faced with a question one seemingly cannot answer...” he might have been rambling a bit now. “A very pleasant thought exercise to have had this fine evening, wouldn’t you agree?”

[the_rebel_son]

"Yes, cheating and lies have consequences." She agrees and then shifts more to her side, back feet kick out a bit as she relaxes. "For me, it is memories. I was there when the events took place."

[itmeanstruth]

Isamu readily nodded, and was relieved when the sphinx appeared to be relaxing. This was a good sign according to his Care for Magical Creatures textbook.

“Ah... I do hope, well, that the lion in the story was not a companion of yours.”

[the_rebel_son]

She watches him after that comment, tail flicking and twitching.

"We are all companions. Many easily forget that truth."

[itmeanstruth]

“... close companion, then?”

With the flick of that tail, Isamu was beginning to get a little nervous again, and it was time to get out of this conversation with his life intact.

“It was quite a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I should return to uncovering whatever mischief my brother has undoubtedly gotten into...”

[the_rebel_son]

"I think we view the world differently." She says as a calm observation.

Her eyes drift around and she shrugs. "This who night is mischief."