Masquerade [Open to all]

[stringmods]

Who: Everyone
Where: Near Scorpio's Central Art District
Summary: You all did good. Halloween is being celebrated in style.
Warnings: Nothing for the moment. Costumes?
Congratulations!

You've proven your worth to the city of Hinoto-Ri and this year the Masquerade is dedicated to you. You deserve the party, considering you saved the city from the Zodiac Monster! Besides, on the most powerful spiritual days, even the demons take a day off and enjoy a time of frightful good times with the humanoids.



The lights are all colored blue and purple, and the streets are filled with partygoers of all ages, in both fantastic and some-not-that-fantastic costumes. Pumpkins appear to be floating in the air, but once you come closer, you realize they are Pyro Jacks attending around. This is THEIR favorite holiday and they wouldn't have let it gone to waste!

Originally the Masquerade was to be celebrated around Scorpio's art center, but with the rebuilding still in process, it was moved close by, with the office of wands preparing all the charms needed. The streets need to be protected, considering the Full Moon was just a few days ago.

If you find yourself without any money, no worries! The Government has given you a bonus paycheck for your hard work last week. Costume shopping should be no problem, and the are still stores nearby selling their wears for last minute shopping!

With a small secure sector, it's sure to be an extra fantastic celebration of dancing, music and just watching both humans and demons going at it without much care. Candy is floating around thanks to the Pyro Jacks, grab something and try not to ruin your teeth. Hey, who IS that guy just passed by? Hard to tell.

After all, with these combination of Halloween costumes and a more high class masquerade ballgowns and masks, who knows is really human and who isn't?

Comments

[fools_journey]

Hey, she could have decided to take up door-to-door selling of candy or something. She might not want to come in then.

"No. Something different. ... less colorful."

[greatseal]

She'd still want to come in and bother him.

"Oh? I'll look forward to trying it, then."

[fools_journey]

... true. That is her main hobby.

"It's nothing special. Just a chocolate peanut butter malt..."

Nowhere near as exciting as the razzle-dazzle rainbow confetti shake, but well... at least it'll taste good! He heads back into the kitchen area, trusting her to shut the door behind her. And then he proceeds to scoop extra ice cream and so forth in. But he's listening and glances over at her as he fights the cold ice cream's desire to remain in the container, united with its ice cream block.

[greatseal]

She comes in and closes and locks the door for him, then wanders over to watch the process. That's a pretty fancy blender he's got there.

"I still haven't baked anything for you like I promised..."

[fools_journey]

He made sure to get a top quality blender! The cheap ones are lame and don't really grind ice very well, after all.

"That's okay. I can wait."

... for at least another week. Maybe. He's quiet as he proceeds to turn on the blender, holding down the lid while he watches everything get ground up and blended. It doesn't take long, and soon enough he's pouring out two glasses. There's still enough for another milkshake, so he puts the lid back on and puts it in the refrigerator to slow down the melting while he puts the ice cream away and gets out a pair of straws, a cherry and a paper umbrella toothpick. He skewers the cherry and puts it on his sister's drink.

"Ah... I'm out of whipped cream. Sorry."

[greatseal]

"That's okay. It's fine like this." And it's already pretty elaborate... She picks up the straw and prepares to take a sip.

"...Wow, Minato, this is great!"

[fools_journey]

He waits until he sees her reaction, and then he smiles just a little. Even when he's feeling down, he still likes making other people happy - especially people he cares about a lot. "I'm glad. Ah -- cheers."

He lifts his glass to her before taking a sip of his own.

[greatseal]

She clicks her glass against his and sips again, but her expression is more calculated, now. She's gauging his mood.

"So, are you going to go to the Halloween party tonight?"

[fools_journey]

His mood that he's trying not to make obvious, because he doesn't want her worrying, but she's pinned him a little with that question. Still, he shrugs and shakes his head.

"Nah. Not really interested, and I don't have a costume, anyway."

[greatseal]

Too bad... him not being interested in socializing with his sister already concerns her. "You don't really need a costume to go."

[fools_journey]

He gives her a bit of a flat look at that. "It's a masquerade. Going without a costume is missing the point.

[greatseal]

"The 'point' is to have fun." She continues staring at him while finishing the glass. "You're not against fun, right?"

[fools_journey]

"No..." He sighs and sips at his milkshake and debates whether he should say anything more. But he's pretty sure that if he says nothing, she'll keep pestering and wheedling, so he'll give her at least a bit of an answer. "But I wouldn't have fun tonight, anyway."

[greatseal]

"Why not?"

A little bit of an answer leads into a lot of a question, but at least her tone is serious now. Minato wouldn't say that unless he had a reason to believe it.

[fools_journey]

"I'm tired and not in a social mood."

It's an answer, even if it's not the answer. Besides, last time he went out late at night, following that weird music, he ran into a really weird doppelganger of himself.

[greatseal]

"Hmm..." Minato, you're no fun. Although she's more concerned than just pouting about that right now. "Do you want me to leave, then?"

[fools_journey]

He shakes his head. "No. You being here is different. It's nice."

Sister time is not socializing in the same way that being out in a crowd is socializing, after all.

[greatseal]

"All right..."

She can't just leave it at that, though. Despite the fact that he raised himself for ten years and turned out okay from it, now that she's here, she feels like she has to look after him. Him having some kind of obvious problem makes the feeling worse. "But if I'm going to stay.... You have to talk to me, okay? About anything you want."

She's not going to force him to spill his true feelings, because she knows that's difficult for both of them. But he can't sit silently tonight.

[fools_journey]

"Don't stay too long. After all, you're all dressed up cutely."

Don't want to let the adorableness go to waste, right? Never mind that he's avoiding any sort of subject for the moment. But he still smiles at her as he takes their empty glasses to go rinse and put in the sink.

[greatseal]

"I'm glad you think so." This isn't an answer of whether she'll leave or not, but still.

[fools_journey]

He's quiet for a moment while he's rinsing the cups, but then he gestures towards the couch. "Ah... would you like a more comfortable seat?"

Still stalling, but he's... not really sure what to say to her. He doesn't know what he wants to talk about, and mostly he just thinks about the things he was brooding on when she showed up. His violin is in its case next to a music stand he picked up, ready for practicing later, but... otherwise there's not much out.

When they're settled, though, he remains quiet for a few moments, thinking, before he says, "They put Elizabeth's door back up today. And took down her nameplate."

[greatseal]

"...Took down her nameplate?" Now Minako is concerned. She had noticed that Elizabeth's door was back, but she'd assumed someone had gotten mad about the noise and convinced her to put it back. But the way Minato says it doesn't sound that simple. "Minato, what happened?"

[fools_journey]

"... she seems to have gone home." And then he adds a little softer, "At least... that's what they told me when I asked what they were doing..."

[greatseal]

"I... see."

She pauses, and then scoots over closer to him, so that she can put her arms around him. Whether he realizes it or not it's obvious now this is hitting him hard. "I'm sorry to hear that. She's a nice person."

[fools_journey]

After a moment, he leans against her a little. Touch like this is comforting and makes things feel a bit less lonely. He smiles faintly, though, as he's really not sure 'nice' is the right adjective for Elizabeth, what with how she treats Theo and the way she fights.

"I guess it's not really goodbye, and maybe she'll come back... It was just... unexpected."

Maybe she figured something out and left without even thinking about it. After all, she's so determined to find a way to render the Seal unnecessary... so he'll see her again someday. Right?