1st Annual Halloween Block Party!

[iam_senpai]

Perhaps it's the leaves of fiery golds and oranges drifting on the breeze, or the sight of various hard squash being mangled into festive ornaments, or even still the bowls of candy left out simply everywhere in the Nexus that signifies the import of today. Regardless of when you take heed, Halloween has come to the Nexus.

Neat little handmade signs and fliers of all kinds lead to a particularly festive sectioned off block with the Crossroads Cafe at the center. The brick building has more than its fair share of decorations hung from every available windowsill and door. Hanging skeletons, jolly Jack-O-Lanterns, orange and black streamers cascading down and blowing to and fro in the crisp breeze.

The doors are propped open just waiting to beckon you inside. What are you waiting for?

((See the OOC post if you have any questions! Backtagging and threadhopping are fine. Come on in and have a blast :D ))



Coats and Costumes
The Cafe
Bonfire
Dance Floor
Haunted House
Side Halls and Storage

Comments

[the_faceless_one]

Someone has indeed brought their own Jack' O' Lantern to this event, to celebrate the spirit of Halloween at it's finest hour, but hasn't been very nice about it. There's a few broken pumpkins on the ground near one of the center tables, deliberately pushed off to make room for one specific pumpkin. It's a unsettling one that has a peculiar carving engraved into the gourd, being lit up by a glowing red light that's inside the pumpkin. There's some sort of black goopy Halloween prank ooze that's dripping from the cut pumpkin, giving it an eerie presense.

Who put this pumpkin here? A Halloween trickster? If you happen to be quick, you might catch sight of a sweater-wearing girl slipping away into the darkness.

Happy Halloween, Nexus.

[sumarusfinest]

When they told him there was a mess out by the bonfire Katsuya had taken a moment to finish his task before grabbing a small rubbish bin and heading outside to clean up whatever had fallen and broken.

The table is nearly barren save for a single pumpkin when he walks over, and Katsuya's gaze is on the mess on the ground at first. He supposes this isn't the worst prank to come on such a night, though admittedly he's disappointed that anyone would resort to petty vandalism. Why would they leave the other pumpkin though?

It's just sitting...

Oh.

Katsuya drops the trash on the ground. His throat working as he tries to swallow. Breathe. He turns around but by now there's nothing out of the ordinary anywhere. Just the party goers. Just the Nexus.

He hadn't felt any presence. Though Helios sends a disquieted shiver down his spine at the sight of the black ichor dripping from the pumpkin. The wards. There were wards on his door, letting him know if someone used it to come into the Nexus. Ever since the demon invasion. He had to check. Where is Radio? Ice Bear? Katsuya needs to find one of them to cover for him. Has to check to make sure nothing else has broken out of his world.

Silly Katsuya. As though there was only ever one way to and from the Nexus.

[icebearforpresident]

There is an unspoken rule that if someone thinks or mentions ice Bear, he tends to show up 90 percent of the time. This is one of those instances, but only through technology, as Ice Bear is calling Katsuya's cell phone. If the officer doesn't pick up, the bear simply calls back again, over and over.

This Halloween night is quickly escalating into something completely beyond the normal Nexus affairs.

Will you answer, Katsuya? Or is the desire to get back to your door that great right now?

[sumarusfinest]

He's shaking when he fishes for his cell phone, swiping across the face of it and holding it up to his ear. In truth, Katsuya had missed the first call. He'd been too busy standing there in shock.

"Hello? T..this is Suou."

He sounds incredibly upset for what has been a fun night so far.

[icebearforpresident]

"...Suou-san. This is Ice Bear."

Way to state the obvious, pal. But it's clear that something is on the mind of our favorite ursine bear. He continues onward with the conversation.

"Ice Bear thinks we have a problem. Have you seen Radio? Both of you should come back to the cafe."

[sumarusfinest]

"What happened?"

Katsuya's gaze rakes over the pumpkin sitting on the table. His lips draw into a thin line as he stares deep into the pulsating red light of the symbol carved into the gourd.

"Never mind. I'll be right there. Just...cleaning up some trash."

With his phone pocketed, Katsuya looks back toward the cafe for a moment....before turning back to the table and punching the carved pumpkin as hard as he can. It bursts like an overripe fruit, spilling more of the ichor across the table and covering Katsuya's hand.

The sting and smell of it corroding his gloves and stinging his skin is familiar. He's felt this before. In demon infested places warped by magic and twisted by the rumors spread in Sumaru. He wipes the ichor off onto the side of the trash bag before using one of the smashed pumpkin lids to scoop the remainder pumpkin goo into the trash bag before taking it out to the dumpster.

With his hand still vaguely smoking Katsuya walks back into the cafe, a steeled expression settled onto his face.

[icebearforpresident]

"...Okay. Ice Bear will wait for you."

The phone call ending abruptly doesn't bother Ice Bear in the slightest, rather, he's already putting away his own phone. When Katsuya does show back up to the cafe, he'll find Ice Bear standing near the door which leads into the cafe office.

To be fair, Ice Bear has no reason to ever walk into the back offices, since Radio and Katsuya need the space more than he does. Only on occasion does he drop something off on one of their desks, but he's in and out just as quickly. But something strange is going on tonight and the bear has stumbled upon something questionable while keeping the cafe clean and safe.

The office door is firmly shut and Ice Bear is stopping anyone from looking inside or lingering nearby until Radio or Katsuya shows up.

[sumarusfinest]

Ironically, it's only now that Katsuya looks the part for his costume. He's silent as he strides through the cafe, hands curled into fists and jaw clenched as he brushes by the partygoers and heads for the back.

His hat is missing and one glove corroded by the ichor by the time he's facing Ice Bear at the closed door to the office.

"Ice? What's going on?"

They usually keep the office door shut as there's important paperwork and the like stored inside, but there's something in the bear's posture that tells Katsuya he's not going to like whatever has happened.

[icebearforpresident]

Ice Bear looks like an intimidating bodyguard, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. It's important to note that he's taken off his costume, having folded the ghost sheet costume, draping it over his shoulder.

"...Katsuya. Ice Bear thinks we need to contact the Nexus police."

He opens the door to the dark office, allowing Katsuya to step inside, but keeping other people from being able to see inside. Once both have entered, Ice Bear snaps on a light and reveals the crime scene.

The office looks like a hurricane hit it. Papers and chairs are tipped over, as if someone was digging through things in a hurry. Katsuya's desk has taken the blunt of the storm, as every drawer or piece of paper has been flipped upside down in a hurry. Careful examination shows that there's a great deal of scratch marks, made by some sort of blade, all off the surface of his desk.

[sumarusfinest]

"The Nexus po--Ice Bear, I am a police officer. What's going on?"

The torn apart office actually bothers him significantly less than the not so innocent pumpkin he'd discovered outside. Despite how much damage there is to the office, there's a sense of the ordinary to the scene. No drops of ichor or blood, no claw marks in anything. No, a person did this.

And a person is something Katsuya can handle.

"That's not all that's happened." He moves away from inspecting the desk and fills Ice Bear in on what he'd found outside, going so far as to show the ruined glove and burn marks on his hand that he'd been left with.

"I've seen that engraving on the pumpkin before" he tells his ursine companion. "It isn't a good sign."

[icebearforpresident]

Ice Bear has no comment to that, because he's a bear who's not well versed on what authority should be handling this vandalism or attempted robbery. Katsuya seems to have a pretty good handle on this and Ice knows not to touch a crime scene in progress.

"...Should Ice Bear cancel the party? Kick everyone out?" He's being honest here, given Katsuya's whole explanation of the bad symbol and this recent break in. "What do you want Ice Bear to do?"

Aside from personal property damage, nothing seems to have been taken, even blanks checks and Nexus currency have been abandoned. If Katsuya had anything home related on his desk, it's probably been dug through the worst (photos are scratched out, important addresses and phone numbers are removed).

An experienced officer should be able to decipher the crime scene: the perpetrator wasn't here to pillage valuable items. They wanted information or seemed to be searching for something specific.

[sumarusfinest]

"...No, I don't think so. Causing a panic won't help anything. Besides, with the AV field in place there's only so much either the perpetrator or myself can do. I need you to find Hughes and fill him in on whats going on. I'll go try and find Blaze, if she's still here and do the same. In the meantime, if you see Radio, let her know what's happened so she doesn't worry. I'll be on patrol for the rest of the night."

Really, it's the photo of the lot of them--Maya, Ms. Serizawa, Baofu, himself, and Tatsuya that pains the officer to lose the most. It was the only thing he'd kept from their journey. And he'd kept it always at work--never wanting to risk Tatsuya finding it and triggering himself. Not that Tatsuya was at home, anymore. Now it was just himself.