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Petra Soroka	It's the Saturday before Halloween, the spookiest night of the year if you're above drinking age, and Petra is organizing a Halloween party for Angela. She must really be in a good mood, too, because she's put out an open invitation, albeit with the insistent subheader that she'll kill you if you "fuck up the vibes"-- followed by encouragement to come in costume. With all the shopping trips she's gone on for decor, all the preparations that have been buzzing in the facility for days, Control Department practically being turned into a construction site, and even asking Woz to prepare food, it's obvious that she's put a ton of effort into hosting.     And there's no clearer sign of that effort than what greets the attendees immediately upon entering the Warpgate to Lobotomy Corporation. The containment cell has been turned into a small vestibule, for people to filter into, because beyond the open steel door is just darkness; entering into the haunted house. Being that no one is meant to stay in the cell once the party starts properly, the decorations inside are sparse, but still enough to prime the holiday spirit into anticipating the upcoming scares. Tangles of black mesh drape down from the ceiling, abstractly spooky and feeling sort of like cobwebs, meant to dim the atmosphere and evoke the sensation that you're walking into something undiscovered. A Happy Halloween banner hangs over the exit into the haunted house-- it's all a little silly, sort of tacky, even though she absolutely could've made it more realistically scary.     Once people arrive, Petra bounces up to the doorway, slipping out of the shadows from deeper within the haunted house. She's fully, unabashedly in costume: a witch, but the Etsy kind rather than the Party City kind. Vaguely gothic and shockingly feminine, her black corset dress ends above her knees, transitioning into fishnets with black stars and moons sewn into them, matched by her silver celestial chain belt. Black mesh spills down from the sleeveless shoulder puffs, only mostly obscuring the fact that her arms are covered in ragged, upraised knife scars. The low neckline of the costume is supplemented by a black underlayer that blends in, but not so much that the collar-- that's part of the costume, right?-- and bite marks-- some of those look *brand new*-- around her neck are hidden. She seems to have willingly reapplied the black eyeshadow and silver liner that she naturally had when Silvered, and she has a pointed witch hat on her head.     In Petra's hand is Pillar of Creation, the black-glass EGO spear shot through with veins of gold, now equipped with a puff of hay tied with string around the end to resemble a broom. She gestures with it as a wave, beaming and bouncing nervously on the balls of her feet.     "Hi everyone! Hi Lilian!" Angela doesn't get a specially targeted greeting because Petra saw her thirty minutes ago, before changing. "Er, happy Halloween! So, uh, the food and everything's past the haunted house, once you make it through. So have fun!"     Petra pauses for a beat, then lifts her broom up menacingly. "I mean, uh, IF you make it through!" She's standing there for a second before fog pours down over her, and by the time it settles into a misty layer on the ground, she's *vanished*-- but you can still see the curtain-wall swinging slightly where she pushed through it, and hear her awkwardly giggling about the presentation along with someone who sounds like Cinder.
Petra Soroka	At first, it seems like Petra expects everyone to just filter into the haunted house on their own, and the silly afterglow of her introduction makes the idea that any of this is going to be even *slightly* scary feel ridiculous. Then, just as someone is about to step out through the threshold of the cell, all the lights flicker, then shut off with a heavy click. It's totally dark for a moment, and then lights affixed to the walls start glowing, pale green illuminating the fog still coiling through the air and coating the ground in a layer of sickly haze.     The lights lead you deeper in. Pushing past the black mesh from the ceiling as you walk is a lot more unsettling when it blends in with the dim atmosphere so that you can't see what it's really made of, and after a short trip through dingy dark hallways, the haunted house opens up into its first main section. The walls are-- obviously foam-- stone blocks, like the interior of a castle, lit with dim green. Chains-- actually real, heavy iron, thick enough that they leave a tang in the air-- are draped from the ceiling, clattering as you push through them. A plaque, lit with a fake torch in a sconce on the wall, labels it THE ORDEAL OF GREEN HALLOWEEN.     Down the hall a little further, and the stone walls transition into a crypt, lined with open "graves" with skeleton props in about a quarter of them for budget reasons. Then suddenly, halfway down the hall, one of the skeletons comes to life and clambers out of its grave in the wall, jumping out at you...--! And it's Cinder, in costume!
Angela	It's getting to be a theme of Lobotomy Corp delivering stern warnings about fucking up the vibes but so far nobody has been killed for fucking up the vibes at Lobotomy Corp (at least as far as Outsiders are concerned). Angela breathed a sigh of relief that the energy levels of Lobotomy Corp seem to have stabilized. They're still not at an ideal point but she is way less worried that they'll miss a day and have to do a reset. FORTUNATELY L-Corp can to a limited extent reset only one day rather than going back to the beginning but Angela has been sternly warned twice now and this may be the last time she gets to really enjoy herself before she has to accept Ayin's rule and become more strict about following his edicts. And, apparently, this latest edict from one of the branch offices (stay tuned for the cutscene! I swear I'm writing it!). Like for the Kukuru Fan Meetup, there's a lot of Agents present though not all of them are helping run the event. Angela is dressed as a pirate. This is probably not that surprising because she's been wearing the pirate hat that Captain Hook gave her a while back. She has added a patch on of a skull--but not just any skull. It's One Sin And One Hundred Good Deeds serving as the skull on her pirate hat. She still has both hands but has put one of her fists into a pirate hook and is wearing an eyepatch with the image of a brain and a pegleg sticking out of it. Her pirate hat has a big black raven feather plumage. She also is wearing a dark purple coat with epaulets that almost certainly came from a costume store and is wearing black slacks and a button down shirt with a particularly fluffy cravat. Nonon and Shajo have come as Frankenstein's Monster and Dr. Frankenstein respectively. Nonon has been picking up Shajo up and down and tossing him up in the air while saying things like 'ME FRANKENONON' because she hasn't actually read Frankenstein while Shajo tries to be humor her and be stoic at the same time, failing utterly. He is, of course, being a bottom. Justin Rook couldn't make it. He has work and he is kind of in a mood. Rose wasn't even invited and didn't want to come but many other Lobotomy corp agents are present including Yuri (who just added a tiara to her lobotomy corp gear and is claiming to be the Snow Queen) and Random (who is wearing a sexy cat costume and seems a little sullen that Rook isn't here to see it). Moku is wearing a teenage mutant ninja turtle costume which nobody seems to like after THAT dreadful encounter and weirdly Mikey is dressed as some kind of picasso-esque abstraction of Mikey as a costume. Ya-Boy almost came dressed as Kukuru but decided that might be problematic now that Nothing There is back and instead has come as Oscar the Grouch complete with a trash can around his body. Parker came as herself but claimed that she is 'always wearing a costume'. M.O.M has dressed himself in a Bowser costume which he thinks is hilarious but it is tough to tell that it's him because of the mask. Cinder, who IS helping with the haunted house, is wearing a black tux and slacks with a skeleton pattern and a top hat. She has used facepaint to design a skull around her face as part of the costume. The facepaint glows in the dark into vibrant--but SPOOKY--colors. "I've got a BONE to pick with you!" She says. "I find your chances of survivor, HUMERUS." Truly, she is terrifying. "Ah,... Hello Petra." Angela says at the greeting as stoically as ever but she only obscures her anxiety...mostly. Most of it is about wearing a costume at all. Is this making her seem too approachable? She hopes not. When her staff thinks she has a heart it always leads them to dissapointment in the end. But she also doesn't want to befoul Petra of her efforts so she makes the compromise of NOT going first into the Haunted House. Instead Shajo and Nonon make their way in first, largely thanks to Nonon who is big and whom people tend to clear the way out of.
Angela	Sephirah are also milling about in costume. Chesed has gone with 'Maid' and Netzach has gone as 'Can of Wellcheers'. They're still boxbots so even the fact that Malkuth is dressed as a vampire dominatrix doesn't really make it too sexy, but they're trying to get in the spirit all the same. The Tiphereths have come as a horse. Tiphereth A only agreed to a costume at all if she got to be a head and that means Tiphereth B is stuck as the ass. "Everyone's playing around like there's an allowance for a good time here..." Tiphereth A mutters. "But isn't that a good thing?" Tiphereth B counters, without much energy to it.
Timespace Riders	SEVERAL DAYS AGO      "Absolutely not."      "Please?"      "It is simply impossible, my Demon King."Sougo looks pleadingly at Woz, hands clasped together, fingers interlaced, silently imploring with the biggest puppy dog eyes.      Woz purses his lips and avoids Sougo's gaze--but doing that only causes his brown eyes to fall upon the unopened costume, neatly wrapped and lying on the living room table. "...please do not look at me so." TODAY      Sougo and Woz arrive, dressed as characters from a popular fantasy manga. Sougo is dressed as the rising star of the kingom's army, a lordling in dress uniform. An elegant black tunic with gold trim terminates at the wrists with silver bracers, annd similarly styled leggings disappear into lightly armored riding boots. A purple cape is draped over one shoulder.      Woz, meanwhile, is dressed as that character's retainer. His costume is an exaggerated blend of Victorian and Edwardian era servant's formalwear, complete with swept tailcoats. In place of the bow tie one might expect, however, there is a silk choker with a golden bell attached. From between the tailcoats sprouts an actual black tail, and two black cat ears rise above Woz's long, neatly center-parted hair.      The retainer's white gloves grip tightly, as the world's most put-upon frown darkens his face.      "Thank you, Woz," says Sougo sweetly. The retainer's frown softens slightly. "For helping with the food earlier *and* wearing the costume now."      "Focused as I was upon my own responsibilities," says Woz, holding hands with Sougo and stepping through the haunted house, "I did not fully appreciate the effort Petra put into--" the retainer jumps, setting his fake tail to whipping out behind him, when Cinder jumps out in costume. "...hers," he says, pursing his lips in mild embarrassment.      Sougo, who'd jumped, as well, setting his prop longsword bouncing against his thigh, claps and laughs with amusement. "I love that pun! That's really good."
Aya Shameimaru	The idea of a costume is foreign to Aya, but the idea of creating a disguise is pretty old hat. As such, she's dressed in an immaculate white dress with gothic highlights of black, and streams of red, wearing a flowered white mob cap with her hair dyed in light blue. Her eyes are already crimson, so it doesn't require any editing there, but her wings have been draped to look like leathery vampire wings...     On her chest is a plastic label that reads:     HELLO, I'M     Remilaya Sharlet     There's a genteel nod towards Petra as she introduces people in, saying, "Oh, I quite like the costume you picked out, Miss Petra. I hope that this suits what you had in mind, I have not experienced this... Halloween yet."     It seems that they're going to be ushered through, but then, darkness! "Ara ara," she mouths for a moment, then giggles. "How unexpected. Is this part of the show?"     The Ordeal of Green Halloween. Oh dear, and now they're in a crypt! It looks like there's a lot of... actors, Aya thinks, but she won't point that out.     Nonon and Shajo are two she can pick out immediately, and Angela to a lesser extent, having seen her from a holoscreen last time. The rest of them, she's less familiar with, but there's certainly quite the collection of people here... not to mention energies.     "I see, a collection of mythological figures, and more," Aya muses to herself, letting her wings spread. The embodiment (?) of the scarlet devil is here.     "It looks like it's going to be a fun night."
Gaonoir	"I can't believe you somehow talked me into this," Gaonoir grumbles in his usual gruffness, which as always was offset by Erika's more energetic yet still geeky demeanor. "I know, you've already seen some pretty strange and scary things in your time," his Tamer replies, spirit undampened. "But! That is why we're going to specifically this haunted house which should be more than the average tricks and hauntings." "No no, I get that. I am actually interested to see if it really can come up with anything to give me a good jump." The canid digimon stops and gestures at himself with his gloved paws. "I mean this rediculous idea you had for a costume!" It seems that with some extensive hair dye (and a little digital texture modding) Gaonoir's usual dark hues have been replaced by an orange hue with some black stripes, his tail puffed up more, and a scruff of whitish cream tussed up from his head. Certainly some people will recognize it and realize he's been done over to resemble a Growlithe. Someone thought it would be funny to costume a Digimon as a Pokemon. By the way she is giggling most likely Erika herself. At least she has gone along with the theme as well, wearing a brown jumpsuit with large puffs of cotton glued around the wrists of the sleeves, and her hair styled to hang off to the sides like a large pair of rabbit ears. Erika starts a little when Cinder jumps in, though the bone puns get a roll of eyes from Gaonoir, but it's not out of spite or anything. They were really just -that- cliche. "You must have a lot of spine to try ribbing us with such horrifying wordplay." Not that it stops him from going along with it. Which makes Erika smirk a bit, just seeing him at least try to get into the spirit of things as the event is starting.
Bowser	There is but a moment. A second after Bowser RVSPs to a Halloween party. The moment his X leaves the Facebook page for the sign up. In that instant, Kammy's crystal ball lights up. "Stars and Skulls! This is a disaster!" A spray of sparkles bursts the door open, leading the way for Kammy to fly in on her broom. "Sire! Sire!" A snort of derision, of rage, as Bowser slowly turns his head towards the door. "Kammy! I am doing important King stuff right now. Can't you see this is one of the single most important moments of this entire KINGDOM!! Hold on!" Deep breaths, Kammy, deep breaths. "Of course, your muscliness." Bowser turns his head slowly back, glaring forward in concentration. Every muscle aligns, and he starts a light jog. One step, then two, then. The bowling ball slides down the lane, curving slowly, lining up just to the right of the pins before exploding forward. The bowling ball combusts, turning from a polish ball of resin into a sphere of flames as it charges down the lane, slamming into the pins. They scatter wildly. Bowser hollers out as the jumbotron above the bowling alley starts a video of a boo falling in love with a bowling ball. "Alright, this'll take fifteen minutes. ONE SECOND GUYS!" Bowser trundles down off the bowling alley to Kammy. "Sir, what were you doing before that?" "Before...what?" Deep breath, "Before your magnificent strike." "Oh yea, I was responding to some Halloween party at EL Corp. I gotta support other Concord, show up, be the big guy, you know!" "Sir, who sent this invitation." "Uhh... let me see here... Pete-Ra." Kammy grabs Bowser's face, pulling up close to him. "Sir. You have to beh-" No, a different tact, "Sir... the party is a game. It has haunted house rules. You have to follow the haunted house rules. Or you'll lose. And it'll be like that time Mario broke up that haunted house you made for Princess Peach." Bowser thunders out, "WHAT! I NEVER LOSE! SEND ME THIS LIST OF RULES!" He turns back around to Saitama, Hanzo, and Lucifer sitting on bucket bowling chairs, "I will not lose!" The warpgate zap open to reveal a Bowser who has been covered head to toe in completely black paint. From his torso, two mighty paper mache limbs stretch off to either side. Six extremely large googly eyes are glued across his face, mostly symmetrical. Bowser mutters as he looks around, "Hmm, this is a really good haunted hous-" JUMP SCARE! He flinches back, about to throw a punch. Thankfully, his lizard brain is short circuited by Cinder's joke, and shortly after, a great GWA HA HA HA HA! "I LOVE THIS PLACE!"
Kukuru	Halloween is always fun time back in Kukuru's neck of the woods. She usually spends the festivities at home, but hearing about another party going on at Lobotomy Corporation is more than enough to convince her to show up this time, too! Sure, last time was... She doesn't like to think about last time. The important thing is to concentrate on the now, and to get everyone's minds off everything that's happened in the recent days. When she sees that costumes are part of the deal, though, Kukuru really has to dig into her head for ideas! It takes a good while to finally settle on something, but it's a good thing she spent as long as she did since it takes her a good while longer to figure out how to walk properly in her costume. She's decided to show up in the outfit of a stereotypical cowgirl that, bafflingly enough, is Party City in its tacky stylings and with all of its exposed skin between the tight shorts and barely-a-shirt while having a thoroughly handmade and authentic quality to everything else. The boots and the vest? Actual treated leather. The spurs and the revolver? Real steel (blunted and unloaded, of course). The whip? Rawhide and hemp. The hat? Kukuru doesn't know how to keep the hat on properly. She'll probably get the hang of it by the end of the night, though. She greets Petra and Angela with a not-practiced at all "Hoooowdyyy~" in her usual light tone without a hint of Texan drawl, tripping over her spurs briefly before marveling at their costumes. "Aaah... You both look so adorable! Those bites look so real, and that skull matches Hook's hat so nicely. You really put a lotta work into these. I can tell." Somehow sounding proud for some reason, she mingles with the Agents, a little cautiously at first considering everything's at happened, and never getting her fake voice right once the entire time. Ironically, she's actually got a decent range that might work for other gimmicks, but not the one she's aiming for. Eventually, the lights go off, and Kukuru oohs and aahs when the green wall lights come on with that weird haze. She looks more excited than scared of anything, though, and she proceeds through the guided path, once again making intrigued noises at the foam blocks and chains that decorate everything around her. Cinder's jumpscare, as expected, gets an initial yelp from Kukuru because of course she'd be weak to jumpscares. Once she realizes she's looking at a skeleton costume, though, she eyes Cinder curiously with a slow tilt of her head before breaking into a fit of more giggles. "Aw, hi there~! Hehe... You're looking really handsome today like that. You should try wearing this more~" She sounds really amused about that for some reason.
Meika Kirenai	With time she's scrounged from between duties, shifts, school, and sleep, the actual effort Meika put into her costume has felt more like an excuse to spend time actually looking forwards to something, and while done piecemeal, would add up to an embarrassing sum compared to the low-key result. Albeit with fake festering gashes on her face that took repeated trials tip-toed close to the bathroom mirror to get right, and a corpse-like pallor that took lots of experimentation with shoplifted makeup, Zombie Meika, from a distance, looks much like she always does. A too-worn but not yet discarded school uniform served as a good base to hack up with a box cutter, the skirt and shirt sleeves jagged at the hems, the shirt buttoned wrong and stained with soot (or, in reality, cigarette ash and diluted craft glue) and blood (marker ink) around gouged-through tears, and one of her ties hanging loose around her neck, chopped short. Giving her ensemble the final check in her home's bathroom, she can't help but smile, even while that disrupts a bit of the illusion. Ultimately, though, looking somewhat indistinct from her usual look is good, because...     The Dead Walk! ...To the train station. Coming in costume necessitates getting to the Kagoshima warpgate in it, too, but it's an easier reason to swallow being stared at for, as she hugs her bookbag tight, trying to prevent glass from clinking much inside it. The invitation did call for others to bring their own beverages, and, frankly, Meika doesn't expect her father to miss any of the bottles of imported bourbon collecting dust at the back of her parent's liquor cabinet. He's never noticed in the past, at least. Quietly, anxiously tapping her bootheel as the local train presses on, she mouths a silent prayer that the journey goes smoothly, and that by some miracle her sister won't be watching.     That last part is a long shot, though, and as nothing does impede her, Meika tries her best to shake off the hot coal in her stomach, the prickle at the back of her neck, that tells her that even if nothing stopped her, it doesn't mean she's really, truly, getting away with sneaking out like this, again. But, she's gone this far, put this much effort in, and the idea of giving up and waiting till next Halloween is, frankly, entirely out of the window.     When she sees that even other side of the warpgate landing is themed and populated by partygoers, Meika silences a giggle and slowly shifts her ambient stance into a slow shuffle, arms stiff and gradually raised up out in front of her as she moves further in, as appropriate for masquerading as a zombie. She cuts the behavior after a bit, though, being slightly inconvinient for mingling and waiting around, but not before trying to shuffle behind some of the costumed Agents and try spooking them with a "Graaaah!". Not abandoning the bit entirely, though, she gives a corpse-stiff wave to Sougo (and not his retainer), before shambling over.     "That's... a nice costume, Mister Sougo. Did it take a while to make...?" Fantasy knight-ish vibes are at least a bit of a fondness of Meika's, if her magical girl transformation wasn't a tell. Still, she doesn't even really look Woz's way. She's holding a bit of a grudge.
Meika Kirenai	At Petra's announcement, Meika gives her a wave, and giggles at the dramatic exit. The lights flickering does catch her off-guard, but- it's supposed to be spooky, she's supposed to be off guard, so in the green dimness, she puts pointed effort not to try and suss out her surroundings other ways. No point spoiling the fun! Heading into the house, she gently taps the chains that the group is navigating through, as they shake from being pushed aside. It's hushed, and spooky, and-     "Ah-! Aha.... Miss Cinder, that joke's scarier than-" She shuts herself up, accidentally launching into a comment a bit meaner than appropriate for the occasion, and tries to smile instead, her countenance still being covered up with fake gore betraying it a little. She summons up another little laugh, though, and backsteps a bit in the dark, careless where she's heading until she herself bumps into a coffin, unexpected, and lets out a high-pitched yelp as she falls on her rear. She's quiet for a second, before she starts a fit of giggling, and slowly, stiffly, shambles herself back up, in stiff zombie motions. Being in costume really does make it all a lot more fun.
Lilian Rook	The Saturday before Halloween means it's still a while before Samhain, which means Lilian is still free of her yearly obligation slash responsibility slash tradition for a little while longer. Even if she's looking forward to it this year, a party this early isn't something she'd miss either; it's a rare opportunity to secretly squeeze in a breath of theatrical secular consumerism with friends; an exotic indulgence with a certain type of special allure, for a girl who is so used to the authentic.     So of course, even if Petra wouldn't dare try, Lilian has put a little effort into her first try at a Halloween costume. And, of course, fate would have it absolutely no other way than her best attempt at picking something popular and trying to blend in means accidentally going as the single most terrifying thing for Petra to experience as a currently undiscovered fanfic writer.     An actually period authentic starched white blouse with belt-cinched sleeves is meticulously stained with 'unsuccessfully removed' fake blood beside a deep green cravat, as if pressed to a bloodied shoulder. An archetypical sort of black leather strap corset is tied over to prevent billowing, fastened with silver bat buckles like the fully leather thigh boots that would also be authentic if if the heels weren't modified just tall enough for Lilian to hit the six foot mark.     A black wool cloak with green floral stitching, technically fit for horseback riding, hangs largely from one shoulder, fastened asymmetrically and lined with crow's feathers. The opposite hip jingles with a thick cluster of mismatched crosses and pendants. She has, for once, actually moved the hairpin, relocating it as a kind of brooch, to fully let her hair down and apply a little fake windswept wave; a necessary adjustment to subtly show a tiny makeup job to make slightly pointed ears visible, as well as the false pinpricks in her neck.     Though anime blood red is the traditional by now, Lilian has chosen, for the oddly woods-appropriate and largely period correct attire, to replace it with shock green on her nails and lips, reserving red for eye makeup with heavy shadow. Lord knows where she got the double belt harness to actually sheath Night Mist on her body, partially to her hip and partially behind her, so that it doesn't move inconveniently. Her sword is a little too big to doing the job it's doing, yet she's made it work somehow; what else is new.     Upon arrival, she looks around once, releases a tiny bit of tension from her back at seeing she isn't overcostumed, then looks again, and wonders if she maybe should have sourced faker clothes. Petra's enthusiastic appearance is enough to make her smile, and show off whatever she's done to get those subtle fang-- Hm. Is that actually different, or is it just the lipstick drawing attention to . . . ?     "So you really can work hard when I'm not looking. I'm pleasantly surprised." Lilian says. Her elbow is casually rested on the inside L of her sword's hilt and guard. "Oh my goodness this is adorable. Are all of your Halloweens like this? What would it take to get you to do this sort of thing all the time, I wonder~"     Fact two is that Lilian has never picked up or learned the disaffected coolkidism of suburbanites that internalize Halloween is for babies once their parents stop letting them trick or treat. The idea of a haunted house is absolutely enrapturing to her. Enough for a soft little appreciative gasp when the lights turn out, quietly giddy attentive watching of the fake skeletons, and clapping a hand to her mouth when Cinder jumps out, suppressing her enthusiasm very badly out of habit more than intent; soon requiring both hands when the skeleton puns start.     "Well then. If you're done ribbing us, would you mind telling us where to go next? I hope we shouldn't have to follow the whole radius of the building. The others might not have the spine for it."
Bowser	Bowser topples to the ground, rolling on his massive black painted shell, guffawing with laughter.
Timespace Riders	"I have no idea!" says Sougo merrily to Meika. "There's a girl online that makes these--I made sure to tip well, because she really knocked it out of the park. Don't you think? If you want, I can give you her website later!"      Woz is too experienced at the art of snubbing to fail to notice when it's wielded against him. The act draws an insufferably smug smile to his face--as if he were looking at proof of quality for his own handiwork. The retainer slips an arm around Sougo's waist and gently pulls him close, turning his nose up.      "Yours looks really good too," says Sougo, who is never so oblivious as he looks. "Right, Woz?"      "...indeed," says the retainer, a little wind taken from his sails.      "Oh! Speaking of good costumes, look at Lilian's!" The Demon King beams. "I can tell a lot of work went into it. The little bat clasps... are you...?" He tilts his head, his free hand stroking his chin curiously. "No, I don't know. Who are you dressed up as?" he asks, with deadly innocence.
Petra Soroka	Something about Woz and Sougo's costumes makes Petra freak out a little bit. She doesn't say anything about it, but whatever she's *not* saying has such a strong grip on her that she's practically vibrating with the effort of holding it back. She opens her mouth, and nothing comes out except a tiny squeak like a balloon. Anyone looking closely will see that she's gripping Pillar of Creation so tightly her knuckles have turned white.     Whatever the fuck is going on *there* will have to wait for the scene tomorrow.     Kukuru's costume makes her huffy for a different reason. Partly because she's dressed *indecently*, partly because that barely even counts as a *Halloween costume*, and her accent is *terrible*. It's all just for fun today, though-- and anyways, Halloween is the one time that Petra supports dressing that way. After a little forceful exhalation, Petra isn't even rude to Kukuru at all.     Lilian's costume makes Petra freak out in exactly the expected way. She shivers and unconsciously bites her lip, and then at Lilian's observation-- it *was* sort of because Petra expected Lilian to look, since 'hosting' is such an important concept to her-- doesn't protest at all, fervently nodding instead. She wobbles a little when making her dramatic exit, tripping over her own feet after she's through the curtain with a crash.     After Cinder's jumpscare, there's a few minor things left in the Ordeal of Green Halloween. A fake window built into the 'stone' walls is slammed open by an animatronic of a skeleton with tattered clothes and stringy hair, roaring through a low-quality speaker. Faceless mechanical heads, actually torn off of defeated Green Dawns, dangle from the walls by chains, chittering and beeping threateningly. At one point, one of the human props on the other side of the foam wall scrapes against it, and the loud, gritty rasp seems to come out of nowhere.     The patchy green light starts to dim as you close in on the end of the section, and then blinks out all at once (because of a clerk flipping the power strip off). Even the path behind you is totally dark, until a red glow starts to suffuse the way forwards, emanating from around the corner. Something bumps in the dark and someone squeals, followed by back and forth frantic whispering that's quickly hushed silent. Approaching the red light leads the partygoers into an oppressively lit chamber, with a single frosted light source in the center on a pedestal, its glow catching on all the vapor particles in the air to almost feel like a physical presence. There's nothing much in the room at first, with the foam walls draped in white plastic tarp matching with the concrete floor and red accents to feel uncomfortably hospital-adjacent, in that tacky horror way.     Once everyone filters in, though, there's a sudden burst of movement and sound! Clerks, dressed in black to disappear in the darkness of the haunted house, pour buckets of fake blood over the side of the walls, trailing down in rivulets while the center orb starts strobing. Layered on top of all of that is a scream unlike all the other ones you've heard so far, like psychic nails on chalkboard, wordless and voiceless. It wavers with something other than pitch, blurring your vision and echoing over itself a dozen times at once, and-- somehow, no one goes insane, or even gets hurt.     Fragments of the Universe's ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆ fizzles off into static after just a few seconds, harmlessly. Whenever the strobing light in the center of the room blinks off, there's projected words in red light visible on the far wall, proclaiming this to be the ORDEAL OF CRIMSON HALLOWEEN.
Angela	Everybody in Lobotomy Corp assumes that Gaonoir is a pokemon. Not because of the costume, actually, just because they don't know what a digimon is and they do know what a pokemon is. "Nice costume!" M.O.M, as Bowser, says to Sougo and Woz. "Who did you come as?")] Angela looks back to Aya, "Ah, Aya. You came by quickly. Please pardon the smell." Actually with the number of people here it's tough to smell the ususal blood and disinfectant combo but Angela is used to comments on it AND used to the smell to the point she doesn't really smell it anymore, so she has no idea that that's the case. She looks at the nametag. "Pardon. Remilaya." Then Cinder jumps out and says, hr, "Join my skeleton crew! We could use someone who can play the trombone!") Cinder grins at Bowser, encouraged by him loving it and even more encouraged by not getting punched by a large spiky dragon turtle. "Glad you're having a good time!" She says, forgetting to include a bone pun in the moment. Cinder's eyes widen at Kukuru's compliment. "E..er... I don't think I can work in this...! But thank you! What's your costume?" She doesn't realize Meika is getting mean since she's having a great time. "A zombie! Did you get here by driving a CAR-CASS?" Meika successfully frightens Ya-Boy who yelps and falls flat on his back and starts rolling around in the trash can as inertai takes him off in one direction. Angela is as stoic as ever as she goes through through herself but she isn't giving off any 'annoyed' affectations. She does, in fact, accidentally smile at Cinder's skeleton puns--or maybe at Lilian enjoying the skeleton puns. A bit tough to be sure. "I hope you have... a skeleton of fun!" Nonon and Shajo do not go through the house itself, they walk around it for unknown purposes. "Have you decided to come as a bloodfiend?" Angela asks Lilian offhandedly, happy that she's having a good time. Lobotomy Corp is usually so awful that she can't help but be pleased that Petra's hard work is paying off. Lilian's words about things always coming down to torture, murder, and revenge have reminded her of a time when before all that seemed normal. Angela DOES seem more effected by the faceless mechanical heads--atmospheric horror--than jump scares, even goofy ones. She grasps at her hook-hand with her free one, her eyes opening slightly. She stiffens when the fake blood is released, but is relieved when it becomes apparent to her they are using fake blood. Fragment makes noises and looks towards the ORDEAL OF CRIMSON HALLOWEEN but... there's no mental assault from the Fragment's song. Petra must be near it, she thinks. "Petra really excels at putting on events..." She thinks aloud, wondering how she even found the time to organize all this. Will she go all the way up to the WHITE Ordeals?! She can't help but wonder.
Aya Shameimaru	Oh dear! An animatronic skeleton... it looks like something the Kappa would build. Remilaya stages a fake gasp, perhaps thinking that having kayfabe is important to the occasion. Once they arrive at the end, however, the scene begins to shift... oh? The room appears quite different from a crypt now.     Oh no! Fake blood (Aya can smell the difference in an instant) pours over the walls, and a scream! Ah, that scream does feel a bit more real-- hmm--     Ah--     "That was... quite the experience," Aya muses to herself, rubbing her chin. The last time she experienced something similar to that was when she was caught in a certain Inaba's insanity waves, but that ended up much more horribly than this.     "Oh, no, no," she admits to Angela, shaking her head. "I'm quite enjoying myself. We don't have anything quite like this back home, but we have festivals that have a similar intent and appeal. It is important to remember the fear of the denizens of the night, is it not?"     She looks to the others gathered, appreciating their costumes for a moment. That big dragon looks like he's enjoying things quite a bit, and some of the costumes certainly have a lot of work put into them.
Lilian Rook	Between covering her mouth to not show too much amusement (a very normal thing that very normal girls have drilled into them at a normal age), Lilian bites her knuckle at the incredible duo costume coordination of Sougo and Woz. She isn't thinking what Petra no doubt is, but it's something in the same galactic cluster, and it feels so strangely wholesome that the warm disorientation feels like a minor dice penalty.     "Eighth." she says, without elaboration. "Hmmm . . . I don't suppose there's a particular who to it. I felt I should choose something squarely in the middle of popular costumes for my first Halloween, but I wanted to be a bit more inspired. I asked Eleanor and Sabrina about it, and they sent me some of these amateur fiction 'blogs' that they read for inspiration. It'd feel a little crass to mention any in particular I decided to derive a costume from." Lilian says, with the most innocent of unknowing smiles. She even gets to silence a giggle down to a motion when Petra trips on the way out.     Though, she does take her turn to blink in polite surprise at Angela, taken aback. "Blood-- You have those here? Or, rather, your own version?" Whether this means she's shocked that the City has vampire fiction, or whether this means vampires are also real in her homeworld (?!) is unexplained. "She really does." Lilian continues. "I'd like to try a re-run of an event she barely got to participate in, because of it."     As adorable as Cinder is (Lilian has forgotten entirely about holding Petra at gunpoint to take that ludicrous date with her seriously), there's a full haunted house to explore. Despite the sheer amount of cold and real horror she is used to by now, the cheap and uncanny freakiness of animatronics and low quality sound effects are apparently something entirely new to her, visibly putting her on playful edge around an atmosphere primed for people wo actually want to get spooked. The Green Dawns are where her playful nervousness actually fades, and her fingertips trail along her sword until they have a loose grip on the pommel, as if she can smell the residual traces of murderous realism on them, at odds amidst the creepy plastic.     It's an unfortunate start to what chains into a hospital setting. For some reason, a creepy foam horror castle is exciting and playfully unnerving to Lilian, but a creepy fake horror hospital seems to fall outside her Halloween expectations, or at least her slasher movie experience. A certain degree of real tension crawls back up her spine, speeding and stiffening her steps and causing her eyes to wander from corner to corner; something that oddly isn't heightened or lowered by fake blood (a different kind than what she used on her blouse collar? It looks different).     The screech coming through the radio is replied to with the rasp of glass clearing steel. Lilian freezes with two inches of Night Mist's blade exposed, her resting hand now gripped on the scabbard, upon subsequently realizing it's a recording; and one she dimly recognizes. An uneasy laugh-- much like someone who doesn't know whether they're supposed to be scared or still enjoying themselves at a haunted house-- bubbles up from her as she straightens herself out again.     "My. I wonder how many stages there are to this? I'd thought the Green was already quite impressive."
Timespace Riders	Sougo gets spooked by the window skeleton (as it turns out, he gets spooked by quite a bit)--uttering a short, clipped little 'ah' of shock, that fades into bubbling laughter. As he and Woz both travel further in, and the lights dim, the Demon King is seen tightly clutching his retainer when the red glow suffuses the darkened segment.      An eager grin is on his face, and, having focused on the orb at the center of the next room, he is totally unaware of the clerks.      "EH?!" The fake blood scares him 'for real,' piercing through his enthusiasm for a moment. Edging frightfully away from it, he nearly shoulderchecks Woz, the retainer stumbling to keep from falling over.      Woz, by comparison, looks like someone who is a little annoyed that he's actually enjoying himself, a pout and a smile competing for primacy on his face.      "O-oh," Sougo says, to M.O.M., coming down from the adrenaline a little. "We're Ulric and Theodore from 'War of the Flame Sigil.' It's super popular right now! I can bring by the first volume sometime, if you remind me."      "Truly?" Woz asks. he doesn't know the origin of Lilian's costume, either. "Whatever that particular work may be, one or several, you have truly brought it to life," says the retainer, dipping his head after the compliment is paid.      "I wonder if Petra has a background in theater, or something? She really did a lot on short notice," Sougo agrees with Lilian.
Bowser	A flash. An eyebrow tic. SOMEONE DRESSED UP AS HIM?! But then M.O.M. doesn't try to play up the part, and immediately it flips the switch in the other direction. Bowser's teeth flash in a grin. "Looks like someone in this place has GOOD TASTE! Gwa ha ha ha! I'm having THE BEST TIME," he responds to Cinder. He is sure to look around as he says that, saying it a little louder than necessary, even for Bowser. It is hard to tell if he is trying to have the most fun time, if he is actually having the most fun time, or if he's just so good at pretending, he tricked himself into having fun. A mutter as he looks over Petra, Lillian, Sougo and Woz, "Dang, couples costumes, I should have thought of that, I could be having much more fun with a plus one." he mutters, slightly put out. Bowser pulls out his tiny phone, pulling out a pair of glasses to look at it, when the hospital room 'starts up'. Bowser is capable of tanking quite a bit. Cannon fire to the face, buildings dropped on him, black holes, lava. Psychic attacks, however, are different. As Bowser has very few functioning neurons, they are easy to overload. His eyes widen, his mouth falls open, and Bowser can feel the sound reverberate in his MIND. Blood pours out from his nose. He staggers forward, bumping into other people of the party. A lurch, a cough, and Bowser is momentarily dazed. "This House... is awesome!"
Kukuru	Cinder's reaction has Kukuru smiling a little wider and nodding confidently. "Dooon't worry. You'll get used to it, just like all the others I've seen~" She reassures her while explaining absolutely nothing about that. The question about her costume, meanwhile, gets her to draw the revolver from its holster and tilt her hat back with the barrel. "Glad you asked, partner!" She says, without emphasizing the D she should be. "I'm a cowgirl! From the Wiiild West." Kukuru adds with a front flip of her revolver, then spinning it back twice before sliding it back into the holster. She's actually practiced that one, so it almost looks natural. Too bad the rest of her body was so stiff doing it. Kukuru's already starting to regret not getting something to munch on earlier, especially once she starts connecting some things in her head between seeing Sougo and Woz in the haunted house, and seeing an unfamiliar creature (Gaonoir) further inside, along with seeing a slightly more familiar way of stiffly moving about (Meika). Still, the scares mean she'll just work up more of an appetite by the time she's come through the other side, so there's even more to look forward to after the fact! She's almost tempted to double back, but seeing Petra make her own exit (without mentally making a connection between that clumsy exit with Lilian's arrival) puts her head back on track. So much work was put into this haunted house, so Kukuru needs to see it all through! Sougo's question gets Kukuru wondering about Lilian's outfit as well, and she once again oohs and aahs at both of their costumes as well as Woz's once she's able to get a better look at all of them. "You really did nice jobs on these, mhm... Did you three get together to plan yours? The details are so eye-catching! And it leads into everything else so well..." She asks/comments, gesturing at the gold trim and bell on Sougo and Woz, and at the silver bat buckles on Lilian. All those bone puns have her giggling again, of course, and Kukuru needs to turn away for a moment just to try and get her composure back. Once she's calmed herself back down, she turns to Aya with a curious glint in her eye, circling aund her once to get a better look at her costume. "I haven't seen vampires like this before, either, but this works so nicely... It's so cute, too!" She gets wrapped up in her fawning enough that she nearly smacks her head into one of the opened walls in the process. "My name's Kukuru, partner." She doesn't get the D, of course. "That's Ku-ku-ru. Nice to meet you, Re-mi-la-ya~" She enunciates while doing the rapid gun twirl thing again. Animatronics get Kukuru to laugh cheerfully, faceless heads get her gawking, and the scraping noise actually gets a startled screech from her. Following the path, Kukuru holds her breath when she sees the vapor in the air, and her stomach growls again when all that fake blood comes down. The psychic scream actually has her shivering, and then she's unwittingly lingering a little closer to Sougo and Woz after the ORDEAL OF CRIMSON HALLOWEEN is declared.
Gaonoir	Gaonoir is doing his best to not be annoyed at people thinking he actually is some manner of Pokemon. They simply don't know better. And as they were warned to 'not ruin the vibes' he just lets it slide, and Erika can be a nerd to explain it all later. Lets just get on with the show. The window slams open from a giant hand thrusting through it and roaring. It's not the highest quality of special effects... but the abrupt and violent nature of it is enough to compensate. Erika squeals, then gets yanked to the side as Gaonoir pulls her away from the window and steps in front of her. While managing to stay 'in character' by letting a bit of dark miasma whisp from the corners of his mouth like smoke as he snarls.... and then realizes what happened. There's a pause, and a snort. "Heh. It was enough of a jump for instincts to kick in, I'll give credit for that." He is hard to scare, so getting him to respond as if it was a legit threat is still acknowledgable. "Right, Erika?" A pause at no response. "Erika?" He turns to look at her examining the hanging arms. "Are these authentic? Impressive." Followed by a yelp as Gaonoir grabs her to keep moving. The darkness doesn't bother him, he's one with the dark. But then it turns bright and has to actually cover his eyes with an arm with a yelp. Then things get weird, as there is blood being poured down the walls. And then... That noise. Much like the Koopa King, Gaonoir can take a physical beating with little issue. But that horrific sound digs well past that, it's enough to actually make him cringe at how unearthly it is. "Gaaaaaaah!" Erika too covers her ears, her real ears, not the hair-done-as-lopunny-ears, the sensation being enough to get her to not play in character. Thankfully it's kept to a very short experience. Though it takes a few moments to realize it's passed, and Erika lets out a gasp, clasping a hand to her chest. Gaonoir whines and shakes his head a few times. "Okay, THAT was pretty horrifying," the canid admits.
Meika Kirenai	"Oh, you bought it? I.. guess that makes sense. It's still nice." Meika says, responding to Sougo, and crosses her arms in front of her out of a growing bit of self-consciousness over her own getup being hand-assembled. "I'd... be happy to see the website, but... it looks expensive, and I don't really... think I'd be able to afford anything like that. Or, um, even have a reason to. Thanks, though."     Sougo's compliment gets a small smile out of her, but the nudged one from Woz makes it falter. "I'm.. glad you- you two, think so."     Sougo's redirecting of attention at Lilian gets Meika to look her way, too, and let out a surprised noise when the Dame Commander mentions she isn't cosplaying someone or something specific. "...Are you a professional at this, Che- Miss Rook? That looks like it'd fit in the movies, or... something." 'A zombie! Did you get here by driving a CAR-CASS?'     "No, I just rode in on the..... Braaaaaiiiiin...." After she's righted herself, Meika answers the Agent's joke with another transit-related zombie pun, accented by shifting into the classic thriller-esque shuffle forwards at Cinder!     Breaking back from it, and out into a giggle, Meika continues on with the group, jokingly preforming the same sort of shuffling lunge at various other skeletons, too, to try and play up her zombie bit more. The lighting shifts to red, and when the blood pours, and the sound shrieks, Meika, too, lets out a bit of a scream, reaching up to cover her ears for all the good that does. It's short, but does leave her pulse elevated and limbs jittery from the surprise of it. The projected title, at least, makes it seem like this part is a little closer to over.     "These really are kind of scary..." Absentmindedly, she sidesteps closer in to the body of the group, as if that's somewhere safer to be.
Petra Soroka	Beyond the room with the strobing orb light, Crimson Halloween continues on for a short while through smaller hallways much like Green Halloween did. The tarps covering the walls here are striped white and red vertically, like a circus tent, plastered with images of scary clowns with various amounts of low resolution blood on their faces. The animatronic budget was mostly allocated to Green-- because how could Petra not put the robots in Green-- and besides, there's a tangible amount of disdain in the decor for this part. Petra doesn't seem to have much fondness for scary clowns, but felt compelled to include them, thematically.     Behind them, one of the clerks drops their bucket while dismounting the wall, and it loudly clangs against the ground. There's a short noise of alarm, then some inaudible fussing over whether they're okay, but it fades away pretty quickly, so it's probably fine. Even so, there's the sound of approaching boots on concrete, and anyone who's able to feel her knows that it's Petra hurrying over to check out the scene, behind the foam walls.     Last up in Crimson Halloween, through a layer of yellow and red tarp cut up into fringes blocking the hallway, is an alcove cut into the wall, inside which is a shitty-looking white mattress, sterile like a hospital bed but stained with fake blood, on top of which is Parker. Parker looks exactly the same as normal, but with fake blood splattered across her face and that awful, awful leather skinmask she always wears, and after jumping up to spook people, she leaves. Petra's orders, not wanting Parker to stick around near the partygoers, because she thinks Parker is gross.     Beyond that is a tunnel, arched overhead to just slightly force Lilian at her new six feet of height to hunch over. The question of how Bowser will get through is more challenging. Inside the tunnel is painted like grey stone, coated with fake cobwebs that the person in front needs to brush aside, with fake plastic spiders on the walls. The red light behind everyone fades, and the other end of the tunnel is seemingly unlit at first.     The room after exiting is black, with black cloth on the floor to absorb light and silence footsteps, and black cloth on the walls for the same, cloaking the room in an uncomfortable shapelessness, not being able to tell exactly where the walls are. Scattered throughout the fabric are small pinpricks of blacklight bulbs, like florescent stars, with cloth-covered pedestals placed in the room to add to the feeling of three-dimensionality, walking through a blacklight galaxy. There's nothing immediately scary, except for the tension-building sound of your own muffled footsteps on the cloth floor. As your eyes adjust to the dark, you start to make out the shapes of skeletal heads and ribs almost-adjacent to the blacklights, barely lit as the suggestions of shapes, eye sockets shadowed.     Turning a near-invisible corner presents you with an arrangement of small blacklight bulbs spelling out THE ORDEAL OF VIOLET HALLOWEEN.
Lilian Rook	Lilian's opinion of cowgirl Kukuru is probably completely secondary to how the concept space has already been adjusted by seeing Tamamo dress up in Authentic American Fashion before. "Hm? No, Tokiwa and Woz coordinated, obviously. I came on my own." she says. "I suppose I'll take it as a compliment." A moment goes by. "That better not be armed."     'Whatever that particular work may be, one or several, you have truly brought it to life'     "I feel as if that should be my line. I'm not particularly a manga reader myself--" Lilian says without having to slow down to enunciate at all, and jarringly without English accenting to it. "--but I've seen enough of those character designs from Satsuki to have some idea. You've outdone yourself in your usual way." Sougo raises a good enough theory that Lilian stops to think about it for a minute.     'Dang, couples costumes'     "What?"     Lilian spins around to speak.     "My-- Beg pardon? Who exactly am I here with, according to you?"     Into the haunted house, 'scary clowns' are back inside Lilian's comfort zone of 'knows they're horror aligned' and 'has no experience with them', so she thinks they're terribly lowkey exciting. Perhaps a little bit more than plastic skeletons, given her familiarity with bones. The hospital bed raises her hackles again, but Parker is just sort of a harmless weirdo, and trying her best, so the attempt at a jumpscare is all in good fun. It puts her back in the Halloween mood again by the tunnel.     '...Are you a professional at this, Che- Miss Rook? That looks like it'd fit in the movies, or... something.'     "A professional in costume? That might be nice, come to think of it. However--" Lilian realizes she'd already given Sougo the number, so she skips ahead. "Thou shalt use the fullest of thy competence at all times, and thou shalt demand the fullest. That includes representing yourself in all scenarios." says Lilian. "And besides. If Petra tried this hard, then it'd be shameful to look down on that hard work." She is doing very poorly at seeming like an evil vampire instead of someone's cool older sister with a sword.     But the ordeal of Violet Halloween . . .     "Oh my . . ." Lilian gasps, this time terribly softly, nearly under her breath. "I love this."
Angela	Angela hesitates and then nods to Aya, "Ah, if you say so. I apologize, this is my first such ... festival. But I am enjoying myself." It isn't really showing on her face but you don't go to a halloween party while dressed as a pirate and spending this much effort on your costume if you aren't at least intrigued by the conceit. "If you have any advice on how to properly participate..." She IS however very concerned with doing this correctly. She is distracted by Lilian--who tends to be foremost in her attention when given any slight push in that direction. "I do not know much about the Bloodfiends--from what I've heard from the snippets of the City I've received, they are rare and in hiding but they are ''known''. Sometimes one causes a massacre but most seem to stay in hiding." She smiles and nods. She thinks Petra enjoys putting together events like this. She's not sure why but she enjoys that Petra enjoys putting events like this together. The thought returns that faint smile to her lips. "I can only imagine she'd enjoy that." She says on the idea of a re-run. She leaves the matter of bloodfiend ABNORMALITIES aside for the moment because she finds that kind of confuses the whole labeling system and she'd rather just not today. M.O.M chats with Bowser. "Oh, yeah, I wasn't sure why they had this costume but everybody loves ya here." He's only slightly exagerating. "So I thought it'd be fun. You have a lot of positive energy! I really admire that." He isn't even talking out his butt, he's being completely genuine. "Wow... You kind of sound like Rose," Cinder says to Kukuru. "She's always 'partner this, partner that'." She also doesn't put the 'D' in the right spot and she has no idea why Rose talks like that either. Parker jumps up to spook people! She's less adept at the 'jump' part of the scare but the fact that this is just how she is normally might add to the scare potential. "Parker, you aren't in costume." "Parker is always in costuuuume." Parker says before adding, "OoOooOooOoooh!" as she sliiiides off. It is a testament to Petra's pull in the facility that Parker actually mostly obeys a Petra order because she's an unhinged maniac. An unhinged maniac...trying to entertain you! Cinder is unmade by Meika and collapses into giggles at being hit by a counter pun. She's not going to be helpful in spooking any stragglers as she struggles to breathe. Angela hears a familiar set of bootprints and frowns faintly as she's suddenly quite worried that Petra heard her speaking about her. The Tiphereths linger at the rear of the group. "Sorry we're behind." Tiphereth B says. "We were horsing around." Another chorus of giggles annihilates Cinder. Angela quiets down as she makes it into a blacklit area. Her mouth opens up faintly with curiouity and interest. She's admiring the construction. Has she put on halloween events before, she wonders. She thinks she is starting to get why people like Halloween--and how SHE can like Halloween despite living in a horror setting every day of the year and busies herself with her hand twisting the hook around.
Aya Shameimaru	Kukuru approaches Aya, and the tengu takes a moment to appreciate her costume, showy as it is. Perhaps that's how it should be? The leather is quite real, which is quite the nice touch for an outfit. "Miss Kukuru, it's nice to meet you," she smiles, tapping her chin as she comments on her costume in turn.     "To be quite honest, this is my only reference point for a vampire, someone I know from back home," Aya admits with a chuckle. "But she certainly knows how to make an entrance. Similarly, I know of one colleague who dresses like you do, but not what the outfit represents in general."     Somewhere, Saki Kurokoma is sneezing.     Angela admits that it's also her first time experiencing such a festival. "That makes two of us. It seems that the only rule I've discerned so far is to go with the flow, rather than against it... it is like an act, as it were, and the performers wish for you to be convinced."     But then, Aya stops and stares at the image of a scary clown. "Is this considered... frightening? Are these not the makeup of entertainers from an, ah... circus?" she seems genuinely puzzled.     And then Parker springs up on them! Aya genuinely jumps for a moment, but regathers her wits soon enough; "That was... an unsettling mask of sorts. Is that also normal?" Angela points out that Parker isn't in costume. So that's... normal?     It's very hard to figure out what's normal and not, sometimes. Perhaps the very effort itself is doomed to folly.     But as they enter the pitch-black room, in which light is absorbed, the use of blacklight seems to fascinate her. "I have never seen anything quite like this," she admits. Skeletal heads and ribs adjacent to the blacklights appear. "Ah, this is quite exquisite. There must be a lot of technology used that I am unfamiliar with."
Timespace Riders	You really did nice jobs on these, mhm... Did you three get together to plan yours?     Sougo shakes his head. "Nope! At least, not the three of us." He grins mischievously. "I kinda... sprung it on Woz, as a surprise. There's a girl online who makes stuff like this for conventions, and I commissioned her to make them for us. She did a great job, huh?" I'd... be happy to see the website, but...     "Ah... no, I understand." Maybe next year, he and Woz can make their own, and pitch in for hers?     Into the next room, Woz jumps at the sound of the dropped bucket. He'd thought it was part of the production, until the concerned whispers--and is a little quietly disappointed it wasn't. Neither he nor Sougo seem accustomed to the clowns, and are accordingly at a baseline level of spook despite the low-res bloodstains. Whatever disappointment he might've had fades, overtaken by starry-eyed admiration, of the Violet anteroom.     "As do I," Woz quietly applauds in agreement with Lilian. "The muffling of our footsteps to disallow the sense of hearing to intuit the size of the room... most ingenious. A truly inspired use of space."
Gaonoir	"Credit were it's due, they did good going with more abstract scares. I'm... actually a little tense now," Gaonoir admits in response to Bowser's more bombastic proclimations of how great it was. As he really hadn't expected any haunted house to get to him, that's something of an accomplish. The shift to a creepy circus like setting though isn't quite so rattling. Gaonoir and Erika both stop to look at one of the clowns. She leans her head one way, Gaonoir leans his the other, almost like they were inspecting some work of art. Then both shake their heads. "Piedmon is scarier," Erika comments. "Chirubimon does better with the demented jester style," Gaonoir agrees. And they move on. Through the shredded tarp, the fake webs and spiders, which does get a brief yelp out of Erika because that's what you do when swatting your way through spider webs. Then there's a jumpscare by someone in a... bloody ski-mask.. wait.. "Gaaaah! Homicidal masked maniac!" She jumps... and ends up in Gaonoir's arms. Which looks a little goofy as he's shorter than her in this form. But more than strong enough to just carry her to the next room, which he does with a roll of his eyes. Again, the stifling darkness doesn't bother the darkdog in pokemon cosplay. But it the deception of boundries and perception is still an effective presentation. By this point, both Digimon and Tamer are being wary in that 'what's next?' manner. So it doesn't take long to spot the skeletal forms only faintly outlined by the blacklights. Gaonoir chuffs softly. "Not directly frightening, but points for the ominous ambience." He might actually be enjoying himself for once. "It is impressive isn't it," Erika adds in agreement with Aya. "I don't think many Digimon would be able to pull off something like this, and they cross metaphysical boundries quite a lot."
Bowser	ELSEWHERE, Kammy looks into her orb. "Oh no." Bowser blinks at Lillian, then Petra. He looks right at Lillian and jerks his thumb towards Petra, before stating bluntly, "Her." He is then immediately distracted by M.O.M. This pierces straight through Bowser, deep into his soul. A ray of light reaches into him, shining onto his soul. Bowser's chest swells as he puts his fists on his hips, his four fake arms mirroring him, if just barely. "Well, I AM really good at managing a kingdom, and I'm strong, and handsome. I should be anyone's role model!" He slams a big hand into M.O.M.'s back! "You clearly have the best taste out of everyone! GWA HA HA HA!" He walks as he talks, telling M.O.M. the importance of eating fried food and lifting with your back as they get to the next door. Bowser puts both hands on the door, ready to RIP IT OPEN, only to stop, a single moment later. Right. A jog, a WOOF, and a twist, and Bowser pulls himself into his own shell, sliding sideways into the room. He stands tall, letting out a grunt that is muffled. A sudden actual sense of unease becomes obvious on Bowser. Partially because he really wants to win, and that means he can't lash out. And he is in a very dark room. A very dark room he can't rip down. He can't blast flames in. Hunched over. His hands start to flex and unflex, grasping, knuckles white in a desire to rip something apart. Bowser's breath comes hotter, smoke out from his nostrils, "And a good king always keeps his cool..."
Meika Kirenai	'That might be nice, come to think of it. However--'     Leading in with 'Thou shalt' causes a faint, yet noticeable jolt to Meika's posture, as if bracing for an incoming lecture. What follows, however, isn't particularly familiar, and her stiffness returns to the slightly-overacted zombie kind instead. "Oh. Is that something you... it really looks like you put your fullest in. And.. Miss Petra really did put a lot of work in to all this, too, huh..." 'Ah... no, I understand.'     The apologetic smile that Meika tosses Sougo is just the tiniest bit strained. His hopes for a next year, if voiced, would only likely strain it more. "..Yeah."     An awkward pang of guilt at Cinder falling gets Meika to hesitate for a solid few seconds, watching the girl on the floor, and then finally offer out a hand to help her back up. "H-hey, are... do you need help..?" 'We were horsing around.'     Meika lets out an undignified snort.     Parker's jumpscare gets Meika to jump, a bit scared! She's flighty at most of the more active parts of the haunted house, especially with the elevated tension of the earlier room's scream. The clowns, while spooky, are tacky and, well, two-dimensional enough to not get too much of a fright out of the magical girl, at least, and finally, it's through into the quiet of the cobweb-laden tunnel.     Once through that and inside the cloth-muffled chamber, Meika tentatively relaxes her grip on her echolocative visualizations, and stifles a gasp with her hands when it only really serves to make it scarier. She squints her eyes shut, the muddled shapes of bones and flesh-free human faces sensed in dampened resolution even before her eyes have a chance to adjust. They're fake, they're fake, they're fake.. The image constructed behind closed eyelids is, frankly, probably much scarier than actually looking out into the starlit darkness. Peeking through her fingers, though, the cold violet wash does cast it in enough of a synthetic filter to make it more bearable, and slowly she removes her hands.     "..It feels so empty.."
Kukuru	> 'Hm? No, Tokiwa and Woz coordinated, obviously. I came on my own.' 'Nope! At least, not the three of us.' "Wow, really? It's such a nice balance, though... Hmm. Oh! Maybe some of us could try matching next year." Kukuru suggest with hopeful looks going between Lilian, Sougo, and Woz. She sincerely means it, too, even if her choice of costume is decidedly lacking in style and grace. And tact. The high material quality of the individual pieces might even make that stick out more. > 'That better not be armed.' There's a moment of confusion at that last bit about the gun being armed, but even Kukuru catches on before too long, and she shakes her head quickly. "Don't worry, I left those back home! AND I checked in here, too." She taps the barrel for emphasis. Apparently, someone actually taught her to check, regardless of whether she needs to or not. >'Wow... You kind of sound like Rose,' 'She's always 'partner this, partner that'.' "Do I? Huh... Maybe I should've asked her for some tips on this, too." Kukuru replies to Cinder with an airy hum, letting out a relaxed sigh moments later. "Yeah... I'll ask her later. Then I can really sound right for the party back home." She adds and chuckles at first, then starts tapping on her chin. "Cowboys sure do have a lot of partners, huh? It sounds nice..." > 'To be quite honest, this is my only reference point for a vampire, someone I know from back home,' 'But she certainly knows how to make an entrance.' "Whoa... You, too?" Kukuru sounds genuinely surprised to hear that from Aya, and she looks more awake than she has all night as she puts on a confident, beaming smile for some reason. "Then... Don't be afraid to call for me if you ever need a hand, okaaay? I know it can be tough out there sometimes, but you can do it~" She encourages while turning her head to mask a yawn, that burst of spirit already fading by the time she finishes that sentence. > 'Similarly, I know of one colleague who dresses like you do, but not what the outfit represents in general.' "There's a lotta people I could ask for tips, huh...? Oh. I'll have to remember that, then. Thanks!" Alas, Petra isn't the only one that's not fond of clowns. The further Kukuru progresses through Crimson Halloween, the more she's staying away from the walls. She's clearly not a claustrophobic person with the way she sleeps, but those clown images... They could use so much more blood, if only to cover them up completely from sight. Each one Kukuru passes by gets a suspicious look, as though she's expecting some kind of jumpscare to come from those paintings. The fact that they don't seem to be just makes it that much more suspenseful! By the time the bucket clanging comes through behind the group, Kukuru's already poised to scream again, and scream she does while nearly jumping on the nearest guest before settling low to the ground. That release of tension gets her laughing again, though, and she's back up soon enough by the time the group progresses into the yellow and red zone. Parker's jump from the hospital-esque bed, compared to the built-up tension and actual surprise of the clanging bucket, doesn't get nearly as much of a rise out of Kukuru. She does remember to giggle in amusement, though, although it might seem a smidge patronizing. Luckily, there's nobody to worry about patronizing in the fake spider tunnel, although Kukuru's mass of hair means she'll probably be digging clumps of fake cobwebs out later tonight. Like the clown room, entering the room of all black gets Kukuru's heart thumping again as the tension keeps building with the sudden lack of stuff aside from what she can pick up with her naturally beefy sight and hearing. She resists the urge to touch those skeletal shapes near the blacklights, but turning right into the bulbs gets a startled shout and laugh from her again. "Violet Halloween... Ohhh, because it's violet lighting in here!" So close.
Meika Kirenai	"...Don't worry about the clowns, Miss Kukuru, real ones just.. juggle things, and look sad, I think. These are kind of... silly."     Meika, in her own heightened, nervous state, defaults to try-and-comfort mode when she picks up a bit of Kukuru's nervous cues. She bites her tongue, when she realizes it's the kind of thing she'd jump to doing, in part to quell her own fright, to her younger sisters, too.     "...Closing your eyes might help.." She mumbles.
Petra Soroka	Continuing further through Violet, another difference between this section and previous ones gradually becomes felt. There's no hanging chains, or tarp, or fabric mesh to push through, and there's in fact nothing at all to touch besides the cloth walls. It makes the warm, still air feel slightly dissociative, as though you're drifting through the space on a current rather than walking, blacklight stars moving past you lazily until they become sparser and sparser, replaced instead by a long purple light on the ground, splitting the middle of the pathway.     The cheerful Halloween spirit creeps back in after the blacklights are left behind, picking up with more skeletal props in visible locations, and fake cloth ghosts dangling down from the ceiling. It mostly seems like a tonal reset without any clear direction, until one of the ghosts, hanging lower to the ground, disconnects from her perch with a small noise of entirely unnecessary exertion.     It's Hod! The waist-high Sephirah is draped in a white sheet with one eye slot cut out, waddling around on her tiny robot legs. The topic of ghosts was something Petra gave a lot of thought to, knowing that Lilian values them a lot, but Hod *really* wanted to help, and Petra decided that since Hod had already killed herself, she pretty much counted, so she got the go-ahead. She's completely incapable of being scary.     Past that is the fourth, and expectedly final for the Lobotomy Corporation agents familiar with the theming, section of the haunted house. The black felt dulling the sounds of footsteps returns back to being bare concrete, as the arc of the sprawling hallways of the haunted house takes them towards the edge of the main room of the Department, close enough to the real walls that the temporary foam ones are shoved right up against them. The color theme here is orange, with the walls having streamers of tin foil to catch the light in sharp gleams, scraping and clinking against each other with the displaced air of the group's movement.     The wall to their right opens up, with a heavy steel door encircled with studs propped open to reveal the inside of a (normally unused) containment cell. Inside is a crude laboratory setting, dimly lit, with an upraised table in the center, a hulking figure stretched out across it. With a sudden flash of light and tinny thunder through a speaker, the figure on the table pushes herself up, looming and backlit with flashing 'lightning', as the scientist behind her is heavily encouraged to exclaim, "It's-- alive!!"     It's FrankeNonon and Shajo, of course! They'd gotten overexcited about the haunted house, and Petra had to pull them out midway to get them in position, so the costumes are already familiar. There's no need to actually go in the containment cell, though, since the hallway continues beyond it, and flashing above the cell doorway in time with the lightning is the area name: THE ORDEAL OF AMBER HALLOWEEN.
Petra Soroka	Beyond that is only a short way out to the exit of the haunted house! The light outside is brighter than anything within it was, even though it's still festive, and the remainder of the open room is decorated and set up with tables and spreads of food, prepared for the *social* half of the party.     Petra is excitedly circling around one of the tables, talking to Qetra, her living reflection, about whatever anxious or excited thought jumps into her head while she waits for the group to make it out. Qetra is wearing an intentionally kind of horny black cat costume, complete with a velvet top and none of the neck-or-shoulderline hiding adjustments that Petra made to her costume. She has fuzzy cat ears, a tail, and big fuzzy boots and paws, the latter of which she's using to hold a red solo cup in two hands to sip while listening to Petra, kicking her feet cheerfully.     Petra freezes mid-step when the group exits, then bounds over to them immediately, Pillar of Creation held out to her side. "So! Um. Welcome back!" She forgot her own bit about joking that they might not make it out. "Did it all go well? Did you like it, Angela?"
Angela	M.O.M laughs, "GWA HA HA HA!" with true joy in his heart. Then he realizes Bowser is saying Lilian and Petra are a couple and his GWA HA HA HA softens to a gwa ha ha ha as he gets the feeling Bowser's stepping onto socially awkward ground which maybe proves the inherent danger in having Bowser as a role model. "You should!" Cinder agrees with Kukuru. This might not be a great idea but Cinder thinks Rose could use some Lobotomy Corp morale since she seems a little leery about the place lately (it's been more than lately). "The internet taught me that one does not always have to post. Sometimes it is good enough to just 'be' and appreciate." She trails off before looking to Parker. "Ah...it is normal, yes. She was always like this, though I admit an Abnormality provided the mask." Angela continues on. It's Hod, really, that breaks her. "B-b-b-boooo!" Hod stammer/'scares'. Angela covers her mouth and actually laughs. It's brief, as ever, but she does laugh. "Ahah..." She laughs. "Hah... Well done, Hod." She can be nice to Hod now since there is no benefit to being cruel to her but she seems a little uneasy about doing that right after saying it so she clamps her mouth shut immediately after. She's on guard for FrankeNonon, who is definitely playing the part. "ME MISUNDERSTOOD." Nonon says of FrankeNonon's backstory. Shajo does in fact go, "It's Alive.... It's--ALIVE!! AhahaHAhahahahahh!" with full gusto which is quite out of character for him but he's being egged on by Nonon and, well, he IS a bottom--and the two of them always dig these gestures towards solidarity. Lobotomy Corp might kill its employees at any moment but morale is high as of late. The return of Nothing There didn't hurt but most of it is just the party itself. Lobotomy Corp, for all its everyday horror, has kind of become a fun place to work the rest of the time--and Petra's in no small way to thank for much of that. Angela's expression is thoughtful as she finally makes her way out to the eixt of the Haunted House and she's asked an important question. Random is with Qetra and is also wearing a horny black cat costume. She looks at Qetra and sighs, "Fine I'll change." Angela says, "It was a lovely experience. There was a nice mix of atmospheric and jump scares to fulfil a variety of people and, of course, you even had some comedy--which I imagine many of our employees--including myself--appreciate as a change of pace from daily life here in the facility. You were very thoughtful and clearly put a great deal of work into this project. I was telling the Commander that you had a knack for event planning." She smiles. "I had a wonderful time. Thank you, Petra." She'll tell her later, she thinks, about how someone is on to her and days like this may be tough to come by in the near future.
Aya Shameimaru	After the almost elegant, restrained confines of the blacklight room comes the more expected cheer of the festival. There's a smile to Kukuru as she vigorously beams a smile to her and tells her that she can count on her.     "Thank you, Miss Kukuru. I'm certain I'll have a lot of questions for a lot of things I don't have a reference point to..."     Hod appears, draped in a sheet. "Ah, this is like a Kedama back home..." Aya muses, half-to-herself. "You're doing really well, thank you."     The final setting is that of a laboratory, with someone shouting that 'it's alive'. Sadly, Frankenstein's Creature hasn't made it to Gensokyo, though there's a certain jiangshi that kind of reminds her of it... but seeing Nonon and Shajo act their part out makes her laugh a bit.     Hmm, Halloween, huh? She's starting to understand the appeal.     "Thank you for showing me this as well. I think I learnt a lot," Aya expresses to Petra and Angela both. But she's still listening in, trying to grasp the nature of this Corporation. A change from daily life... there's a familiar sense of rigidity and a lack of enjoyment in one's life, there. A Commander...     But one thing Angela says does catch her attention. And thus, Aya Shameimaru willingly asks the question that will ruin her life forever:     "What is the internet?"
Gaonoir	It's not exactly scary but it is a recreation of a classic and that deserves some acknowledgement. To which Erika flashes a thumbs up to FrankeNonon and Shajo as the group passes their display. And then it's the end... is it? After everything else can you really blame the pair for hesitating after stepping out into the more properly lit room, like there could be one more trick at the point it wouldn't be expected. Then Gaonoir sets Erika back on down on the floor. "I will admit I didn't expect much at first, but your use of more estoic methods and atmosphere was... effective." He twitchs a moment, and hisses under his breath "Especially that sound..." Which gets a laugh out of Erika even as she pats the canid on the head. "Gaonoir does not scare easily, so that's pretty good praise for getting a rise out of him." Then grins. "Soooo...." Gaonoir archs a brow. "... So?" Erika leans a bit closer. "You know..." Which gets an eye roll in the other direction as he crosses his arms and chuffs. "Okay, fine, you right that this would actually be 'spooky'. And entertaining."
Lilian Rook	'Her.'     "She wishes."     Lilian allows herself to fall silent, then, because she is completely enthralled by Bowser's bonkers reaction to M.O.M. Not enough to distract from the haunted house, but enough to occasionally stare at and wonder if this is what it's like.     'Oh. Is that something you...'     Lilian tilts her head just a little at Meika's reaction. She clearly did her best to stifle it, so she doesn't comment. "It's something I picked up." she says. "I think it's an easy rule to follow."     She looks out into the false galaxy in unison, semi-oblivious to Meika's distress over it. One can only hope she doesn't find the fucked up half-visible suggestions of skulls to be relaxing, when she breathes out slowly, and says, "It does, doesn't it? And we're indoors, too. It's sort of beautiful." The feeling halfway to sensory deprivation, floating in a mute and disorienting void of confusing and jarring space, is a bad enough black mark on Lilian already.     The idea of matching costumes with Kukuru is met with a "Perhaps." from a place of knowing she'll forget long before next Halloween. Hod showing up as a sheet ghost elicits a moment of--     "Oh my goodness!" Okay. Lilian just thinks it's cute. That's fine. In the first place, she's already kind of too nice to the Sefirah whenever she seems to remember what they are; sharply juxtaposing how she's been when she doesn't. She makes sure to fake being Terribly Startled, and then does her very best not to end up chasing Hod around a little, only partially succeeding.     Considering what things have been like lately, Lilian glides through Amber Halloween in an outrageously good mood. The line she's riding when reacting to Nonon and Shajo is dangerously perched between 'thrilled teenager loving the barrage of sensory input' and 'aunt approving of adorable children', but their enthusiasm is completely infectious. She's almost skipping into the party room at the exit, mindful only of her immaculate balance in heels, grinning in several different blended ways at once.     "It was excellent, Petra. You've such good work, I really do hope you know how much it's been appreciated~" Strutting across to Petra, Lilian reaches out like she's going to pat her on the head and ruffle up her hair, perhaps thinks better of it due to the Halloween costume effort involved, and instead drops her hand to her cheek, squeezing with a curled finger under her chin. She pauses for a second, then stops at a smile. "I've gotten ahead of myself. We have a long night ahead of us, Petra, and I'd be thrilled to see what you have to show me."
Kukuru	> 'You should!' "Oh? That'd really be something fun, then. Hehe... Then I could teach that to the kids back home, and then she'd have her own little posse if she ever came by." It is definitely not a good idea, but Kukuru sounds eager regardless. > 'Thank you, Miss Kukuru. I'm certain I'll have a lot of questions for a lot of things I don't have a reference point to...' "Don't worry. I'll answer aaaany questions you have, okay? Um. Even if I don't have the best answers. And if you ever want better answers from smarter people..." She gestures at pretty much everyone at the party. "We're surrounded by some of the brightest people I know~" > 'Perhaps.' Fortunately for Lilian, Kukuru would probably forget something so far ahead. Unfortunately for Lilian, this is also the kind of thing that would get her hopes up enough to actually note it somewhere to remind herself later. The Violet Ordeal room starts to feel less oppressive as the tension starts to give way to just noticing what the room is like. The fabric on the walls, the peaceful air, the chatter between friends and colleagues... It's actually helping Kukuru calm down after her last few scares, and she's even starting to find her eyes becoming a little heavier. By the time the skeletons start showing up to bring back the festive feeling of being awake, she's all about settled down and gotten back into a less anxious mood. Kukuru lets out a curious noise when one of the ghosts suddenly comes down entirely, then a more amused semi-squeal at realizing that it's actually Hod in that cloth. "Aww, Hod! Working hard today, too, huh?" Giggling again, Kukuru squats by Hod to offer an arm to hitch a ride on if she desires (and completely forgetting that she's supposed to be scary), then gets back up to continue down the final harder path! The orangeyness of the next area and the shining tin foil, like everything else, amuses Kukuru to no end as she wanders close up to really see the way the light catches on all those little crinkles, clearly enjoying how much she can see with those funky eyes of hers. The door opening without (to her) warning turns out to be scarier than what's inside the room, as FrankeNonon and Shajo make their second appearance of the night. Naturally, she makes sure to cheer and clap, since there is still that genuine joy at seeing the pair enjoying themselves here. The haunted house comes to an end, and Kukuru has to squint for a little while to let her eyes readjust to the regular lighting. Her stomach is still cursing at her for not eating earlier, but she remains steadfast while making sure to approach Petra with a broad smile. "You really did great tonight! It was so spooky, and that room with those clowns..." She gets a shiver just bringing it up, but still manages to nod rapidly in agreement with Angela. "Mhm! And those rooms with the funny crinkly bits, and the soft walls... I could almost take a nap in there, if there wasn't all this tasty stuff around." Speaking of tasty stuff, though, Kukuru can't hold herself back any longer! She still remembers her table manners, though, making sure to take only a small smaple of everything first to make sure she can finish EVERYTHING that's on her plate (and so she still has time to mingle). Qetra gets a curious look, not because of her costume (only partially), but because of her similarity to Petra (mostly).
Meika Kirenai	After a bit of the Ordeal of Violet Halloween, Meika does go back to navigating it with her eyes closed, the mental image of it cleaned up by seeing it with her own sight. It's a strange walkthrough, with all her senses dampened in some way. 'It does, doesn't it? And we're indoors, too. It's sort of beautiful.'     "...Sort of, yeah. Like... when there's a blackout, and.. all the streetlights and fans stop. Quiet, and dark, but.. the sky's still brighter than you thought, even if it doesn't really help, and the trees and buildings just seem darker...." She's rambling. It's clear it's still a somewhat nerve-wracking room, with the way she presses her fingers into her own upper arms, but every whispered noise out of her mouth fills her image of the room up a little more, for better or worse. Eventually, though, footsteps once again clatter, and the scene transitions. `B-b-b-boooo!'     The ghost of a minifridge. Truly, there are all manner of undead here tonight. Meika tries not to giggle, tries to silence herself when she fails, and gives up on that by the time her hands are resting on her knees from laughing. She can't bring herself to act scared at that ghost, with how silly and cute the squared-off shape of fabric is, but she does smile wide- again, maybe not helped by the somewhat-realistic prosthetic seeping cuts across her face.     "...That's a great costume..." The thought of a ghost outfit much the same had crossed Meika's mind to go for, with how little effort it would be, and with what the Quiz Petra shared across the radios weeks past had assigned to her, but- it would feel kind of mocking, in subject matter and in showcasing her own efforts. Eventually, she gets back to breathing normally, hard as it is to do as Hod gets playfully chased around.     Meika doesn't herself go into the cell-turned-laboratory, but does hover by the doorframe, hands on the edge of it as she watches the routine. It takes just a tiny bit of magic to fudge the tinny thunder sound, amplifying its crackle in a rolling, rumbling tumble, and drawing it out, just for fun. The effort the preformers are putting in deserves it, and it's kind of fun to do! But the time comes to pull away and exit, and as she does so, the echoing rumbles fading along with her.     Normal lighting takes a fair bit to adjust to, and Meika, not even intending it to be in-character for a zombie, shields her eyes- first from the brightness, and secondly because the way some of the party-area denizens are costumed feels like something she shouldn't see.     Shuffling over to stare at tables and walls is easier than eyes facing nearly anything else, and especially not- Is that- is that a normal way to thank someone? Mixed with everything else, overhearing Lilian's interaction with Petra springs up memories of hushed warnings about this kind of party, delivered by the Sisters at her school, flash through her mind, and Meika's glad once again that the weight tugging down at her shoulderbag is high-proof alcohol, a comforting thought for getting through the socializing she'll have to do in a place like this.