destinystrings | Masquerade [Open to all]

Masquerade [Open to all]

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?

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Saori's not much of a party person. Even if she had planned to go, she didn't have a costume anyway. In all the resulting chaos of the Scorpio event, plus getting a new door, she just didn't have the time or energy to plan anything.

And the party apparently taking place where she fought the monster...yeah.

The apartment building is so quiet. And so is the network. She doesn't have work either. If it were back home, she'd be reading a book to pass the time. But after what happened, she thinks it'd be good to get some practice in with her Persona too. One never knows when another creep could try to break in. So she summons Persephone, to get a good scan of the area. ...Huh? There were people still here? She had assumed everyone had all gone to the party. This one was familiar too...Minato-kun? Why was he home?

Hesitant, she ponders if she should go visit. All she might be is a bother. But then, if both of them are alone for Halloween, then all the more reason why she should go visit.

Which is why she's at the door, and after steeling her nerves, she gives a light knock.

If she listens closely, Saori will hear the sound of some warm up exercises being played on a violin coming from behind his door, but when Minato hears the knock, he stops, a little startled. After Minako left, he hadn't expected anyone else to drop by, so he is a little hesitant to go to the door. He's feeling a bit better than before she visited, but he's still not exactly in the mood for a lot of socializing. Still... it's getting late, and if there's someone else about who needs something, well... it doesn't feel right to ignore them, so - shifting his violin and bow to one hand - to the door he goes. Besides, more distractions are always nice.

As he opens it and sees Saori, he's a little tempted to say 'trick or treat?' but he supposes that joke only works when he's visiting. So instead he gives her a small tired smile. Seems like he's not the only one not in the mood for festivities.

"Good evening, Saori. ... would you like to come in?"

She does. But she doesn't assume he's the one playing the music. He could have been listening to the radio.

He looks a bit tired; maybe she shouldn't have come. Too late now. She smiles, and gives a polite bow.

"Good evening, Minato-kun. Or should it be 'trick or treat' instead?" She chuckles. She hadn't gone trick-or-treating since she was in 6th grade. Certainly not in middle school; she was too old for it by then. It felt a bit fun to say it.

"Certainly, if that's alright. I wanted to give you something anyway."

And indeed, she has a small tin box of something in her hands. What could it possibly be?

Edited 2012-11-04 02:22 (UTC)

"I don't have any candy... but I have a milkshake, if you'd like that," he says as he moves aside for her to come in, though her comment about having something for him makes him pause and blink at her. His eyes slide to the box in her hands before going back up to her face.

"Ah... thank you." And he smiles a little again, deciding not to argue with her as he'd done on the network about thanks and payment and that sort of thing.

"Sounds good." Milkshakes? Is that how you lure young girls into your abode? Well it works, as she enters inside.

"It's not much. I even overheard it's kind of cliche, but Minako-chan said you liked sweets so..." She hands him the box. If he opens it, he'll find some peculiarly-shaped cookies inside.

He is quite the crafty seducer that way. His milkshakes bring all the girls to the... apartment?

In any event, he looks a little surprised as he takes the box, but once he opens it, he smiles, looking impressed.

"These look great. I don't think I've seen cookies like this before..." He is pretty inexperienced with German foods of any kind, least of all sweets like this. He looks up at her. "Thank you, Saori. I'll try one in a minute."

And so he sets the tin on his counter while he fetches the left over milkshake and a glass to pour it in. "Ah... you're not allergic to peanuts, are you?"

It is a chocolate peanut butter shake, after all.

~~Quit making me fall for him too.~~ She smiles in return. "You're welcome. They're Springerles. They're sort of like cut-out cookies except you use elaborate molds instead of cookie cutters. I learned them when traveling abroad." The ones she learned in the church used old-fashioned molds depicting religious pictures. But good luck finding those anywhere else. She had to settle for a more generic Springerle rolling pin at an antique shop. But it was fine, as they were nice pictures anyway, and she wasn't too keen on exposing more of her history than necessary.

"Oh no. I don't have any allergies...that I know of anyway." Whoops that didn't sound any better. "But peanuts are fine."

"Springerles..." He does his best to repeat the term properly, storing it away in his memory. "Are they from Europe?"

He nods to her -- questionable assurance about allergies and goes about preparing it. He still doesn't have any whipped cream, but nonetheless he gets out a cherry and an umbrella toothpick to spear it with and drops them on the glass as a garnish before sliding it over to Saori.

"Peanut butter chocolate."

"Yes. They come from Germany. Their ginger cookies are even more famous, but I didn't know if you'd like those." She grew to like them eventually, but they were very different from even gingerbread men. The flavor was much stronger, for one.

"Ehe. Never had that before. But it sounds delicious. Thanks." The garnish is a nice touch too. She takes a sip... "Wow, it's actually good. Even Wild-Duck's doesn't taste this good."

"I like ginger."

... of course how ginger gets used in Japanese cuisine is different, but oh well. He smiles a little at her comment, definitely pleased.

"They probably use cheap ice cream or peanut butter with a lot of vegetable oil. ... I'm glad you like it."

Satisfied that she likes her shake, he pulls a couple cookies out of the tin. He offers one to her and takes a bite of his own.

"Mm."

"Ehehehe. Yeah, probably. It's one reason I don't eat at fast food restaurants that often anymore." It's kind of strange...she'd never imagine being able to talk to a boy this casually. Not after the disaster Takaoka was, or Eikichi. But Minato was really nice so far, and certainly easy to talk to.

"Ah, thank you." She politely takes the cookie, but doesn't eat it yet. It'd be impolite to talk with her mouth full. "Um, do you mind if I ask you something?"

He's already on his second bite of the cookie, but he swallows before shaking his head. "Not at all. What's up?"

She falters, and then asks "Did you and Minako-chan cook together a lot, as kids?"

It's not like she was about to ask "What was Minako-chan like as a kid?" or anything! That's not creepy at all, right?

He blinks at the question then looks down at his cookie, thinking back and trying to remember. Unfortunately, a lot of his memories before his family died are particularly fuzzy, but from the scattered images he can remember, he winds up simply shaking his head.

"I don't think so... we were pretty small..."

That wasn't what she expected. She'd been having an image in her head of a young Minako-chan and Minato-kun, baking things together, maybe making a mess. Kids were usually messy, weren't they? At least that's what she usually picked up on in family films. But then, he had a point.

"Oh. I'm sorry. It's just you two seem so good at it."

He shakes his head.

"Don't be." He's quiet for a moment, still absently studying the cookie. "... I actually don't remember very much of what we did together," he admits softly. And then he smiles faintly. "She still owes me something baked, though."

Is he trying to change the subject a little? Maaaybe. He doesn't really like to talk about his childhood all that much with people who weren't a part of it. ~~It's... nothing against Saori. It's just... they don't have a high enough social link for him to open up like that.~~

Saori can't help but think that's so sad. To have a family, one that loves you so much, and then lose them so early in life. And then to grow up barely remembering them. Saori can only imagine it. Her uncle had been her most important person, perhaps the only family who did love her. But losing him had been her fault, whereas the Arisatos had lost their beloved parents, and each other, only through a tragic turn of fate.

And yet, Minako cheerfully supported her.

"She's really strong," she murmurs to herself. Saori had always thought that. Now, she really can see it better than ever. Oh, but yes it's a little early in the social link for her to be talking about her family issues.

"I'm sure she'll get around to it. She always finishes her duties. That I know for a fact."

Still smiling a bit, he shrugs and toys with that last bit of cookie. "I'm sure she will. She was here for a visit on her way to the masquerade."

And then he has the final bite. Swallowing, he smiles at her again. It's not the most radiant of smiles, but it is pleased and warm all the same. Despite the sadness that comes with thinking about childhood or his own melancholy that keeps him home tonight, he would rather focus on happy things - like baking and Saori's kindness.

"I like these cookies. Thank you, Saori."

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Masquerade [Open to all]

tl;dr, my favorite

tl;dr is delicious. c:

too bad i can't keep it up for so long

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fff he should have gone as Mickey Mouse

only if he could carry a lightsaber too

Mickey with a lightsaber, watch that happen in the next KH game

I really hope it does. xD Or at least that we get lightsaber keyblades...

It'd be the Best Thing Ever

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wow watch me forget to hit post comment orz