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

[hisideal]

There is this confusion. Maybe it's normal when you are a new person in a new place, or maybe it's just Hope being Hope, but she doesn't immediately get that the person calling out is speaking to her. For there may be other people in other small coats, she can't be the only one, can she?

Lifting her head she spots the waving blue man. Blue? Yes, well, so it seems. A light blue man and another one, this one seemingly not blue. Has she seen a blue person before?

She beams in greeting, doing a little two step shuffle of happiness, fingers hooked in the lapels of the ragged old coat she found in the back of the millionth rack she had searched. A bob of the head to each of them: Harrowheart, Steve. Very pleased to meet the two of you, is what the body language says. In return greeting she offers up the pumpkin pail of candy to each of them in turn.

[juststeverogers]

The smaller man looks rather tousled by all the dragging and bumping into people on the way over. His hair is a bit of a mes and he's still trying to get it to lay flat when Harrow finally stops them in front of a woman Steve's certain he's never seen before.

Her costume though....

"Hey, wait. Charlie Chaplin? I didn't even know folks here knew about him. He's before they even talked in films. My ma used to take us to the theater when she had a spare nickel...That's really a swell costume."

Excuse him, he's not used to finding things he recognizes in the Nexus.

[hisideal]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, people around here don't know Chaplin? Hope can't help it, a shocked expression, wide and exaggerated crosses her face. Not know about Chaplin? Insanity!

Still, he's got it and she beams a smile, the shock replaced with pure joy and excitement that he's got who she is supposed to be. Nodding quickly she puts a finger to the tip of her nose, got it, right on the nose.

"Thank you!" Because it's a very kind compliment. "I like his movies very much, I am happy that you recognized it. I wasn't sure what would be appropriate or not." It's hard to make appropriate social moves when you've spent a large part of your most recent life in a vat.

[juststeverogers]

"They'd put up flyers outside of Macy's and.."

Steve stops, suddenly aware he's rambling about a place no one here calls home. At the very least, a time no one knows anything about. He flushes clear up to the tips of his ears in embarrassment and shuts up.

"It's real appropriate and well done too. Usually I don't get any of the jokes and jabs made 'round here."

[hisideal]

He didn't have to shut up, Hope was/is very interested in what he has to say about Macy's and Charlie Chaplin. "You don't have to stop! They would put up posters about his movies? That must have been really exciting!"

It doesn't really get to her that he saw first run Charlie Chaplin movies. In her head this is like, revival showings, she has been to a few.

"No? Well then, I am glad I could drop a reference that you could relate to! Everyone should know about Chaplin, he's amazing!" Shout out to her boy, Buster Keaton, also amazing.

[juststeverogers]

Steve Rogers has no idea how to talk to women. None, whatsoever. Not a whole lot of experience in it either, before he arrived in the Nexus. He only had a few friends, back home, and only one good one.

"It's a real treat to see someone dressin' up like him, that's for sure."

Steve gives Hope a small twitch of a smile, half wondering where Harrow went while he's floundering trying not to make a fool of himself in front of this stranger.

"Are you from Earth too then? Most folks I talk to are, in some way or another. Usually the 21st century or therabouts. Though I'm from 1941 Brooklyn."

[hisideal]

Too? Meaning there are people who are not, which means some of these costumes she's seen probably aren't costumes. And that is rad as hell.

"I think I very much am," she looks back at him. "This is amazing! And you're amazing! How did you end up so unstuck in time, Billy Pilgrim. This must be a trip for you. I'm from Metropolis." She has seen a lot of amazing things but this probably tops the cake for her.

Very cool.

[juststeverogers]

"Metropolis? I'm not familiar with it."

Maybe a place that cropped up after his time, or a renamed place. Either way, he smiles all the same. She seems so excited about it, it's hard not to be.

"I'm not sure. I was on my way to the Army recruitment office, and when I opened the door I ended up here. Been here ever since."

[hisideal]

"No? Well, it's on the coast..." When was it established? Off the top of her head she actually doesn't know. Well, that doesn't truly matter. "It's like any big city, tall buildings, a grid system for streets - just like New York City." That's an easy enough way to give him a picture of where she's from.

"That's wild! How do you like it so far? It seems like a pretty neat place, I keep seeing people and things I've never seen before and I love it!" Reaching into one of her deep pockets (not the one with a hole in it) she takes out a folded piece of paper. "An invite just showed up for me and I decided to give it a try."

[juststeverogers]

"I'm a Brooklyn boy through and through." Steve admits, giving a sheepish chuckle at his own geography failures. "Sounds familiar though." Sounds an awful lot like Steve's own home, even.

"It's...." Steve trails off and gives a noncommittal shrug. The Nexus is an interesting place filled with so much wonder and awe. But it isn't home. And home isn't someplace Steve can go back to. It leaves the entire experience rather bittersweet. "It's helped me meet a lot of folks. I've made a bunch of good friends." Friends like Harrowhart and Viatorus, for starters.

[hisideal]

It's like someone telling a pretty good story that doesn't have a super happy ending: like, sure it ends well but there is a certain miserable disappointment in it as well. "Friends are good," Hope encourages with a smile. "Friends can make all the difference in the world, they make a lot of things bearable."

As opposed to being alone and miserable. Still, there's no place like home.

Hope takes a glance around real quick before turning her grinning gaze on Steve again. "Do you have a favorite place here? You should let me know what to check out while I'm here."

[juststeverogers]

"My favorite place is probably this park near my apartment on the edge of the Wilds. There's always all kinds of animals running around. Perfect place for sketching, relaxing, enjoying nature and all that. My second favorite place is an old rec hall set up as a gym where I can practice my boxing."

Steve taps his finger against his chin thoughtfully while he speaks, thinking back to his favorite haunts around the Nexus.

[hisideal]

"That sounds very picturesque," get it? he likes to sketch? The pun is completely unintentional and Hope totally misses it, she just continues to smile.

"An artist that boxes, I like that duality: one who creates and one who can tear down." Man is empowered with such amazing abilities.

[juststeverogers]

"I went to school for art, whenever we could afford the classes."

It seems like a lifetime ago to Steve, sometimes. The brick building on the corner where he'd meet up with Bucky after class when the other was getting off work at the docks. The cold walk back to their hole in the wall apartment four floors up.

"The boxing....sort of became a necessity. I..get into a lot of fights. My best friend thought it would be good if I knew how to actually win them, on occasion."

Because sitting down and ignoring something Wrong isn't something Steve can do. Even if it usually ends with him getting beaten up in an alley again for his trouble.

[hisideal]

"Would you show me some of your work sometime? I'm always looking for new pieces for my walls." Which Lex Luthor tolerates, her taste varies wildly and so her walls tend to be kind of a mess aesthetically. Whatever, she likes it.

"Yeah, that tends to help," she grins sympathetically. "The nice thing about learning how to fight is that you also learn when not to, which is incredibly handy, not a lot of people think about that aspect. People think you get into a ring or on a mat, and you just hurt people: that's such a narrow part of it."

[juststeverogers]

"Uh? Sure, if...if you'd be interested. I'd be happy to. Most of what I draw is my home. The city the way I remember it. Friends. Family. That kind of thing. I'll draw just about anything but when I'm left to my own devices, Brooklyn just kinda comes out more often than not."

He gives a bit of a self conscious chuckle but nods all the same. Lots of people in the Nexus like his sketches. He's gotten used to being asked about them.

"I don't..." Saying he didn't like to fight would be lying. Steve lives for it, some days. But he hadn't been trying to join the army because he wanted to kill anyone. That wasn't it. He wanted to make a difference. Do his part. And... "I don't like bullies. Of any kind. Never have. When I see something going wrong...I can't stand by. I gotta say something. Do something."

Even if it meant getting beat up. Which it almost always did.

[hisideal]

"What a wonderful way to remember people and things you love! I wish I had artistic talent but I am utterly worthless in that way," not that she seems upset about it, it's more of cheerful resignation than anything else.

But her expression turns serious when he makes his statement and she nods her head solemnly in agreement. "Bullies are the worst, people who delight in hurting and destroying must be stopped. I am lucky enough to be able to protect my city and its people from such evil, sometimes it can seem so overwhelming but I cannot sit by and let good people be hurt and used."

[juststeverogers]

"Yeah? I...have heard of a few people like that. Super heroes, they call 'em."

Steve sounds sad when he says it. Looking down at his own bony hands. It doesn't do to stand there focusing on what he hasn't got. He'd be dead by now if he did that about his health. Rather to focus on what he can do.

"I'm just a kid from Brooklyn getting beat up in alleys for sticking my neck out."