Happy Naberus! [Party post]

[labrathor]

There's a chill in the air and a distant howl, and the sun is nowhere to be seen. On the outskirts of the Plaza, grinning faces carved into squashes tempt passersby to follow their lighted path, leading visitors down twists and turns through darkened streets, fog swirling around their feet. Did you already pass this way before? Are you going in circles, lost forever? Doubling back on yourself will lead to much the same result. And you don't remember when or how, but your clothes have somehow become a costume - whether funny, horrific, or downright bizarre.

Eventually, you find yourself in a small street carnival, tucked away far beyond the beaten path. Lights and lanterns run the length of a darkened street, the smells of fried and baked treats in the air, a light haze of smoke gathering under the awnings of food stalls. Beyond the food stalls, a haunted house beckons the brave to venture into its dark, cramped corridors, the sounds of distant screams coming from deep within. To the other side, a mountain of pumpkins waits to be carved, scoops and wicked-looking knives laid out on a tall table. Further still, wooden washtubs full of dark red wine host a small flotilla of apples to be bobbed, leaving all participants with deep red stains running down their necks from trying.

But before you can investigate the many wonders this strange little celebration has to offer, you must first be confronted by the host.

What looks for all the world like a fleshy flower writhes in the entryway to the festival, already towering over most visitors at fifteen feet high. But then that flower opens, unfolding into the form of an even larger young woman, bloody handprints painted on her exposed skin and shards of glass seemingly jammed directly into her head, and papercraft severed limbs hang in a necklace around her throat. She grins at you with unrestrained glee. "Couldn't resist, right? This is the happiest time of the entire year! Happy Naberus! You do know what that is? The Orokin festival of death, darkness, and deviance." She peers down at those in her presence. "We're all equal on Naberus night now, under our masks. Who's to know who's powerful and who isn't?"

She straightens up and laughs, waving her arms towards the carnival behind her. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"



[ooc: Happy Naberus, Nexus-goers! This is a party post, so feel free to tag around under the activity tags or just with each other! And remember, everyone must have a costume to participate! You can make it as mundane or as terrifying as you like. If you are open to spooky and/or horrifying events happening to your character, please also contact me through DMs here or to Ael on Discord so we can plan it together beforehand. The horror side of this event is opt-in, and threads containing such content should be tagged in the subject line.]

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Snacks and Treats

[labrathor]

A long line of food stalls runs the length of the festival street, each one manned by a masked worker hard at working serving up the next batch. A huge array of treats are on offer, from spare ribs and karaage to grilled matsutake mushrooms and lotus root. Chestnut rice, takoyaki, and grilled whole fish join their savory brethren in adding a meaty aroma to the air.

For those with a sweeter tooth, never fear, there are plenty of sweet treats laid out in neighboring stalls, from mooncakes to momiji manju and pumpkin mochi.

Dripping fat sizzles in open flame as one worker cooks up another batch of treats, flickering orange casting shadows from the crowds gathered around the food stall. Another woman wearing a canine mask and a patchy furred jacket turns to the next person in line. "What will it be?"

[welcomingembrace]

Death is a fan of Halloween. It is her favorite time of year. And in perhaps an ironic twist of fate and destiny, the magic of Naberus has changed her usual black attire into a white-flowing dress, with a pair of angel wings and a halo over her head.

A white feather mask covers her face, and instead of her black umbrella, she now carries a small quiver of arrows on her back. An Angel of Love perhaps?

Death approaches the long line of food stalls, and beelines to the sweet selections. The mooncakes look most appetizer, as she hovers closer to them.

She looks up at the woman with the canine mask and smiles. "Mooncakes please."

[ayatantreasure]

One of the other festival-goers nearby turns their head a little, nodding masked eyes towards the sweets. "The lotus seed paste cakes are my favorite."

Their costume is somewhat reminiscent of a samurai, metal armor and cloth covering most of their body, save for the lower half of their face. Their voice is young, perhaps not even out of childhood, and their cheek sports a deep purple scar peeking out from under the helmet.

Most would not notice, but there's something not quite Right about their life energies. An absence of sorts, their soul displaced like a double exposed photograph, a phantom afterimage.

[welcomingembrace]

Death stares for a moment. Most would think she is admiring the costume, as it is very eye-catching. But it is the absence of life energies that has caught her attention.

She blushes and laughs when she realizes she is being rude.

"Lotus seed paste cakes? That sounds lovely."

"You look very pretty tonight."

[ayatantreasure]

They nod, and turn their head toward the vendor. "One for each of us, please."

The mooncakes have different patterns baked into them to distinguish the fillings apart from each other. Death receives the one she'd asked for, as well as one with a blossom shape on it. Her new friend also receives one, and bites into it with undisguised pleasure.

What little can be seen of their cheeks flushes slightly pink at the compliment, uncertain what to say. "Oh... thank you," they mumble through a mouthful of mooncake. Chew, swallow, take a sip from a little flask tucked into the front of their armor. "I'm a Dax today. They were elite warriors, once upon a time."

[welcomingembrace]

"A Dax. I don't believe I have heard of them." Death answers with a smile.

Death looks down to her white dress, and then over her shoulder to the wings behind her. And smiles at the irony.

"Looks like I am an Angel." She laughs.

[ayatantreasure]

"Most of them are gone now. I haven't seen any here either." They shake their head a little, taking another nibble from the mooncake. "Relics of a fallen empire."

Their head turns to look at Death's costume, a small smile on their lips. "You look pretty too. I've heard of angels, but I didn't think they looked like that. More... scary."

[welcomingembrace]

"Some Angels can be scary. Depending on what they represent. But I think today the Nexus has decided that I should be an Angel of Love."

"Hopefully that is not too scary for anyone here."

[ayatantreasure]

"Well, Naberus is a little bit about fantastic, unrealistic things," they muse out loud, giving her a small nod. "I guess it's in the spirit of the holiday."

An angel of love. Sounds wild and amazing.

"What's your name?" they ask, wiping crumbs from their lips. "Mine's Ayatan."

[welcomingembrace]

"Sounds like the Nexus on a regular day. Fantastic, unrealistic things all coming together to one place. And finding out that there is more out there, then they had realized." She smiles.

With a small pause, she answers the question. "I am Death."

"Although I go by different names, depending on the culture, or the people."

[ayatantreasure]

"Yeah, I guess it is."

Their attention sharpens at the sound of Death's name, though there's little fear in their body language. They're clearly interested, the half-eaten mooncake momentarily forgotten as they turn fully to face her. If she could see their eyes, this would definitely be considered staring. "Are you from the Void?"

[welcomingembrace]

"One might describe it as a Void. No time passes. I am considered an Endless, in my world." Death answers honestly.

"I guide souls from one end, to another beginning."

[ayatantreasure]

Yeah, that sure sounds like the Void. Behind their mask, Ayatan's eyes go a little wider. There's only one entity that's ever been known to come from the Void, and she clearly isn't Him. He would never be this kind or gentle.

"An Endless... is the Man in the Wall one of yours, then?"

[welcomingembrace]

"I do not know of anyone who goes by that name. The others, like me, are ones like Dream, Destiny, Night, Time, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium...."

[ayatantreasure]

They shake their head, as much in lack of recognition as it is amazement. "I don't know His real name, if He even has one. I didn't know there were... so many of you."

Their body language still doesn't show any fear, despite fully recognizing what Death is. Maybe that's foolish of them. But even if it wasn't Naberus, Ayatan's not sure they'd see reason to be afraid.

[bloodedsakura]

Mira's dressed in torn jeans and a cropped leather vest, her already pale skin seems paler now, or it might be the dark makeup she's wearing smokey eyes and black lipstick. Only color on her that isn't black or white is the thin red lines that looks like it's dripping blood... She had finished a show in her Gotham, only to come here because her boyfriend told her that the garage wasn't safe. Looking at the dishes though...

"Takoyaki and a mochi please. These smell amazing." She smiled brightly, forgetting her bandmate had helped with the dead look, so yeah, oops some teeth looked blacked out. Oh well at least the colorant would wear off.

[labrathor]

The booth's vendor doesn't seem to take much notice of Mira's costume, merely turning to assemble a steaming hot takeout box of takoyaki, dressing them with a drizzle of sauces and dried fish flakes. There's a scent of strange alien spices in the air, close enough to be recognizable but distinctly Different than Mira may be used to.

The little box is offered to her shortly, along with a paper-wrapped pumpkin mochi. "Chopsticks are over there," she adds, nodding toward a little utensils station in between stalls.

[bloodedsakura]

Mira watched it, honestly she's had strange combos, so she didn't think anything about it.

"Thank you, smells really good."

Re: Snacks and Treats

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

Aal's eyes light up at those sights and lovely scents As she scans the area. While Dor scouts for a spot that'll fit their fam of five. "Ooh love the costume." She murmurs warmly, As she pulls up her leather trenches' collar and searches her pockets for a scarf. "Ooh could I have some of those wee pumpkins and " She squints at the pretty designs of the moon cakes and asks, "What's in those?" She tilts her head some sort of filling mayhaps.

She can't help but lick her chops at the scent of meat. Still pondering what to get for whom in that department.

She brightens a moment as her fingers brush..and she pulls out a pair of ..leather..fingerless gloves..lovely but not the best for warmth. She makes a 'really?' face as her shoulders slump a bit. Well..maybe there were other sorts of vendors about too? surely. As she puts them on anyway better then nothing she supposed.

[labrathor]

The vendor nods a polite thank you for the compliment, and points at each design of mooncake in turn. "Lotus seed paste, maprico fruit, salted egg yolk, and sweet bean paste. Egg is traditional but don't let that stop you."

They step to the side for a moment to wrap a few of the pumpkin mochi in paper, letting Aal ponder what else she'd like to order. The little treats are dusted with a fine powder to keep them from being sticky, each one stuffed with a dense little ball of sweet pumpkin filling.

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

"Ah." She murmurs and nods half in thought. "ah Egg sounds good to me."She murmurs warmly. She hums, "You wouldn't happen to have any chocolate or beef or erm peanut butter things would ya?" She asks curiously.

Also thinking of her wee ones heck if there were spooky-shaped nuggets/mac and cheese or chicken stripes and such they'd go for that.

[labrathor]

The vendor gives her a blank look, clearly not recognizing the foods she's asking about. "No, sorry. We have fried bird," she offers, gesturing towards the karaage cups, each one filled with a fried breaded twist of meat on a skewer. It smells a good deal like chicken, especially to a nose like Aal's.

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

Aal blinks back at that giving a small kinda sheepish smile. She hadn't been speaking Greek right? At least she hoped not..Though that could happen on occasion. She nods softly understanding. "Oh I see, that's alright..yeaah let's try that." She murmurs after a quick sniff toward that direction. She and Dor would be taste-testing things etc anyways before the wee ones got ahold of it.

[labrathor]

In this case, it's not really Aal's fault. These humble people don't come from a world with cows and chocolate, not anymore anyway. But meat is meat, and there's a good deal of it on offer, including some kind of red meat smoked ribs that can be easily pulled from their bones and fed to little ones.

"Here you go," the vendor says, handing over a cup of skewered breaded poultry, and a small bag with sauce cups inside. "One of the booths further down has fruit sauce, if your little ones don't have their teeth yet."

[delphicbooksandbaubles]

She beams, "Thank ya kindly..and I'll certainly look into it depends on their mood more so these days." She murmurs and reaches for her coin purse. Scenting the air, as she ponders over if she should get at least one of the larger items to try not sure how long the lines may get if they need to circle round for seconds or other helpings.