HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (GROUP POST!)

[Angela]

(this is an annual Halloween party held at Danil and Peter's house! they like to go all out with decorations and costumes and props and music! come towards the light! all are welcome, all welcome!)

Danil Andropov and Peter Zemeckis had spent the past three weeks building their haunted funhouse labyrinth in their front and back yards. It was now October 31, a lucky Saturday, which meant that the full day (aside from Danil's practices) could be devoted to getting everything ready for the evening. They always had a ton of trick-or-treaters, and plenty of guests for their evening party. Peter's football team and classmates, friends from the rink, Danil's family, neighbors. Anyone who heard about the party was welcome to come. There would be various fun games, dancing, fun and spooky things to eat, and prizes. For Peter, it was the high point of the year, even better than Christmas. He passed on his love to Danil, who at first thought it strange, but now was just as fond of Halloween as his husband.

[Nicholas Wu]

Nicholas wasn't much of one to celebrate Halloween. He'd never gone out to trick-or-treat before, had never been invited to a Halloween party in his life. Having spent the first 10 years of his life in China, however, he didn't feel he was missing out on too much. The thought of so much candy might have catered to him as a child, but the older he got, the less it meant to him. Plus, Halloween was only fun when you had someone to trick-or-treat with. Which wasn't his case.

Of course, even if he didn't understand it, Halloween was something Nicholas' father tried to celebrate, simply because it was an American holiday. James put up decorations every year, covered the front windows in cobwebs and rubber spiders, put Halloween decorations all over the front door, and even had a large bowl of candy waiting for prospective trick-or-treaters. Sometimes Nicholas was the one to answer the door, but usually it was James who greeted the eager children with a large grin and a handful of yummy candy.

But whether Halloween was Nicholas' scene or not, Danil and Peter were his hosts, and they were having a Halloween party. A very large Halloween party. As much as he'd rather not be part of such a thing, especially with so many people he wouldn't know, Nicholas knew he owed it to his two welcoming hosts to attend the party. It was all he could do, however, not to shut himself in his room all night and finish his homework.

He'd picked up a head band with bats popping off it, thinking that that would be his Halloween costume--at least he'd be wearing something Halloweenish. He'd almost decided on a pair of cat ears, but then thought that might be too girly and decided against it. And so now he was coming down from his room in the silly bat headband and hoping everyone else was in costume, or otherwise he'd feel really stupid.

Making his way down the attic stairs, then down the main stairway, he called into the emptiness, "Danil?"Another moment and he made his way into the living room. "Danil?" he called again, looking around. Maybe he and Peter were setting up something outside. He'd seen them at work on the Haunted Labyrinth--heck, he'd even helped out a bit!

[Angela]

Peter was running some errands, making sure that people knew about the spectacular extravaganza that promised to occur that afternoon and evening. Danil, meanwhile, was testing things out in the labyrinth.

Peter and his mass-murderers, Danil thought, shaking his head as he passed several bloody, mangled bodies and a man standing over them with a bloody chainsaw in his hands. He had to admit, it didn't bother him as much as it used to. He'd gotten closure over what happened to his mother. It still upset him, of course, but fictitious murders didn't bother him as much as they used to.

He finally finished inspecting things, and headed back inside. He saw Nic inside, looking confused. Since he had his back to him, Danil knew that calling to him would be useless, but Danil used that to his advantage. He was dressed in his costume and makeup. He stepped closer and closer to Nic, and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Looking for me?" he asked when Nic looked at him, trying to make his voice not recognizable

[Kyo Suzuki]

Astro Boy.

That's who Kyo wanted to be for Halloween. He'd seen his Astro Boy-based suitcase just lying around in the guest room closet and immediately liked the idea. The costume was simple enough, anyway, considering the character basically wore shorts and boots. Though....the boots. They were big boots. Kyo had no idea how he would get anything like that.

But then he'd imagined himself in the costume and laughed out loud. "Bakka da ne?" Stupid, isn't it? Still, he didn't mind what he ended up with--or even if he ended up with no costume. He was just thrilled to be celebrating the holiday in the place of its origin. Halloween wasn't yet this popular in Japan, though it was slowly becoming more and more well-known.

Kyo didn't know much about the holiday, except that it involved interesting costumes, yummy candy, and fun. And then there was a whole song you had to sing for when you went out do trick or treeing. He actually didn't expect to do much of the trick or treeing anyway, because it appeared that his host family had gone all out and created all kinds of elaborate Halloween designs for the home. There was a "haunted labyrinth", if Kyo was remembering Danil's words correctly, games, and best of all, candy. Lots of candy. Kyo knew his parents probably wouldn't approve of him eating too much of the stuff, but he had the mindset that one time of eating a good amount was practically essential, considering where he was, plus it would likely be the only time he ever did it.

Not entirely sure what kind of costume he was going to pull off now, Kyo picked up one of the bathing suits he'd brought with him--an item, frankly, he could officially consider useless, since it was now approaching the winter season and he couldn't swim anyway--and contemplated using that for his Astro Boy idea. The matter was cleared up the instant he imagined himself going out into the main room of Danil and Peter's house to greet the rest of the guests, bathing suit and big boots he didn't have, then shook his head, chuckling.
Nope. Highly unlikely that would work.

Highly unlikely I could pull it off, he thought to himself. He stowed the bathing suit away again and tossed his Astro Boy suitcase something like a look of apology. He really had no idea what he was going to do in the way of costumes. He'd been so thrilled for one the weeks leading up to Halloween and he'd had all kinds of ideas of what he wanted, but now--trying to come up with one on the spot--he knew he wasn't doing too well in the way of creativity.

Kyo looked towards his bed, where Vaska was sitting contentedly, and tried to think of something good. The cat seemed to sense his hastiness, because he looked Kyo's way slowly, eyes half closed, then watched almost interestedly as Kyo racked his brains for some kind of revelation. Kyo caught the pet's curious glance and grinned. "Do you want to help me out, Va-su-ka?"

As if hearing him and agreeing, the animal closed his eyes slowly, affectionately.

"That is it, Va-su-ka! Neko--I will be a cat like you! Everybody likes you..."

And that really was it. Kyo hadn't really had any intention of being a cat for Halloween, and even as he was preparing a quick costume, he couldn't help thinking that it seemed more like a girl's-type costume than a boy's, but....well, he was already preparing it now anyway, wasn't he? Besides, Mario and Luigi had once had the abilities to become raccoon-men, so wasn't that close enough for consideration?? If he had a Mario or Luigi hat, Kyo would have happily gone as one of the two famous plumbers.

Two pairs of construction paper cat ears, pipe-cleaner whiskers, and one giant, fuzzy shirt later, Kyo's costume was as done as it could be in the short time he had. He admired his handiwork, confessed it could have been 9,000 times better had he had the time, but wasn't quite so bad for someone who'd done it in less than an hour, and turned to move for the door at the same time he heard Nic calling out for Danil.

It sounded as though Nic was calling out from the living room, or maybe the stairs, and Kyo rushed from the room, both curious about what his good friend was dressed as and concerned that something was wrong.

Not a moment later, and he found himself in the living room, face to face with Nic and--surprisingly--what seemed to be the Devil. Entirely forgetting what all this was about, Kyo practically flew back into his bedroom, screeching. One pipe-cleaner fell off his face.

There was a moment of silence, then Kyo finally spoke up.

"Ano.....haha. Hahaha." Kyo scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, and added," This will be a serious party, yes? You really look like you want to drag one of us down to..." Kyo pointed to the floor. "Did not expect to walk out of my bedroom and see the hell demon. It is fantastic!" Kyo turned his attention to Nic and grinned. "And your hat is good. Not too much, not too little. You will make all the girls at the party go crazy."

[Angela]

Danil had painted his hands and face red, and wore an elegant jet black cape with a high collar. On his head, of course, were horns, and he had painted a goatee and eye makeup to make himself both alluring and evil at the same time. He was not exactly the Devil himself, but Mephastophilis, one of the Seven Princes of Hell featured in Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece, The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus. In it, Mephastophilis is conjured by Faustus by his use of black magic, and tries to steal his soul. At the same time, however, he tries to warn Faustus of the horrors of damnation and eternal separation from God, lamenting on the torments that last for eternity. At first glance, he looked very realistic as one of the Princes of Darkness. He smiled evilly at Kyo, and laughed maliciously. "I just might do that," he said, trying to disguise his voice once more. He grinned. "You look great! Do you have a tail?" He turned to Nic. "I have an idea that will make your costume even better! Wait here!" He smiled and walked past Kyo to his room, where he got out a simple black cloak. "You can use this as your wings," he said to Nic. "What do you think? Would you like that? And Kyo, I can easily get you a tail if you like."

[Nicholas Wu]

The living room was empty. Nicholas stood still for a moment, wondering where everyone could be. The kitchen? It wasn't necessarily a distant possibility. He'd just been so sure that Danil and Peter would take the time to relax, now that the two of them had been working so hard, day after day, on that labyrinth.

Thinking he'd check the kitchen though anyway, he was about to turn around.

When suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and spun around.

It took a moment for Nicholas to recognize Danil. His housemate had gone all-out for his costume, and he looked exactly the part! From the high-collared cape, to the red body paint and horns and goatee. If he wasn't the best Devil that Nic had ever seen...Boy was that scary! And knowing Danil, Nic was sure that the older man was portraying a <i>specific</i> Devil, not just the general costume that everyone seemed to wear. It actually scared him a lot, because he was superstitious about things like that. He definitely didn't like the Devil.

"Looking for me?" he asked when Nic looked at him, trying to make his voice not recognizable.

These words coming out of the Devil's mouth were almost humorous. Nic actually felt himself beginning to relax, despite how ridiculous he felt in his costume. He smiled and nodded.

"How is everything? Are you and Peter all ready?"

At that moment, Kyo had appeared, completely in costume. This time, Nicholas had to really try not to laugh. Kyo looked...Well, adorable. He was only just beginning to get to know the boy, but still...It was hard not to like him. He had a very infectious happiness about him, one that seemed to pour a little of itself into Nicholas too, which was weird, considering Nic's happiness was generally a rare thing.

"Ano.....haha. Hahaha." Kyo scratched the back of his head, embarrassed, and added," This will be a serious party, yes? You really look like you want to drag one of us down to..." Kyo pointed to the floor. "Did not expect to walk out of my bedroom and see the hell demon. It is fantastic!" Kyo turned his attention to Nic and grinned. "And your hat is good. Not too much, not too little. You will make all the girls at the party go crazy."

Nicholas was about to agree with Kyo on Danil's costume (not only was it true, but the way Kyo had put it was funny), but suddenly Kyo had complimented him and he blushed. He didn't deserve that. He looked more a fool than anything else. "I-" he sputtered, but he didn't know how to finish.

Danil was grinning at Kyo. "I just might do that," he said, trying to disguise his voice once more. He grinned. "You look great! Do you have a tail?"

Nic smiled and looked at the younger boy. He really didn't even need a tail. He already looked so cute in that costume...

Suddenly Danil was talking to him again.

"I have an idea that will make your costume even better! Wait here!" He smiled and walked past Kyo to his room, where he got out a simple black cloak. "You can use this as your wings," he said to Nic. "What do you think? Would you like that? And Kyo, I can easily get you a tail if you like."

Nic looked at the cloak Danil had brought out and felt his face turn even more red. It wasn't that the cloak was bad. It was more that Nicholas was completely embarrassed by this whole Halloween scene. But he knew he really owed it to his hosts to at least play along. And heck, he should at least try to relax and fit in...

"Thank you," he murmured, taking the cloak from Danil. He put it on, tying it at the neck and praying he didn't look as stupid as he felt.

Wanting to change the subject so he was no longer the focus, he added, "I think Kyo looks great even without a tail. But maybe we could get him one, just so he can send the girls going crazy." He smiled at the younger housemate.