Week 2 Monday Night Pajama Party!!

[seaweedwrap]

[HELLO AND WELCOME TO THE PAJAMA PARTY! They’ve really gone all out here, because the tables have all been pushed up to the wall (thank you, Finn) to make room on the floor for pillows and blankets and some cushions, too. There’s also streamers and other decorations hung up for a party-type atmosphere, as well as nice quality baijuand plum wine chilled and set out along with glasses for consumption. Next to that, there’s a variety of hors d’oeuvres to be noshed on, along with whatever anyone else has brought. There’s several balls of light floating around, courtesy of Stella, to give the place a nice, cozy glow.

Feel free to make yourself comfortable, grab some hors d’oeuvres and something to drink, and settle in for some sleepover activities or just sitting around and mingling. If you’ve brought something for the party, you can add it to the list here, or if there’s a game or an activity you’d like to host, feel free to add it on to this top level and it’ll get added to the navigation! The pajama party is your oyster~]

((OOC NAVIGATION))
||SUBJECT||sub-subjects |sub-subject||

• ||FOOD/DRINKS|| List of Buffet Items | Buffet Mingle ||


• || GAMES/ACTIVITIES || Avatar's Game | ~Spooky Stories~ | Hot Goss (Info Gathering)||


• ||GENERAL MINGLE||

Comments

GAMES/ACTIVITIES

[seaweedwrap]

[Now what kind of party would this be without some fun games and activities to go with it! Gotta keep everyone busy and entertained, after all!]

Avatar's Game

[seaweedwrap]

[Once the party’s gotten started, Wu, adorned in green and yellow silk pajamas and a purple silk robe over it is going to get as many people as possible gathered up]

Alright, everyone! It’s not a real party until we’ve played Avatar’s Game!

[and then he pulls out a cup with 21 sticks in it, presenting it for everyone to see like it's some kind of golden chalice when it's really just a cup from the kitchen] So! Here’s the deal! Each round, everyone draws a stick each round with a number. There’s 20 numbers, and one stick with a blue mark on it, since the current Avatar is from the Southern Water Tribe. Whoever gets the Avatar Stick is the Avatar for that round, and they get to give an order to whatever number they want. Nobody reveal your number until the Avatar has given their order!

Once they’ve done so, that number has to do what the Avatar ordered. [he wrinkles his nose a bit] And it can’t be super unreasonable or weird or something someone really really wouldn’t want to do. If so, you forfeit your round as Avatar and have to wait until you get the Avatar Stick again. Got it? Good!

[OOCLY Here’s Claire’s version from Airlocked from which this entire thing was wholesale stolen as an example. You can toss a comment here on this screened post to get your number, then make a toplvl for your round as Avatar and give your order! HAVE A PARTY EVERYBODY]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

[Mei claps her hands in front of her when she draws Avatar.]

Okay! Let's see... Number 1, how about you try and lift number 5 in the air? I hope that's a good dare.

[nomansbosom]

Lift from your knees, Number One!

[Helping!]

[...he is neither person, but helping!]

[seaweedwrap]

[There's a cat-like smirk that curls the corners of Wu's mouth]

Well, I'm number 1, so which lucky gal gets to be lifted by Wu tonight, huh? [he's looking around at the gathered just...assuming it's going to be one of those of the feminine persuasion. Even though that's like two other people not including Mei]

NUMBER 9 OVER HEEEERE

[seaweedwrap]

[Wu draws the Avatar stick with a triumphant 'yesssss!' He then settles into a very smug smirk, twirling the stick a bit between his fingers--which he then promptly drops, wiping the smirk off his face for a hot second while he fumbles to grab it.

Once regained (and his smirk along with it,) he taps the stick on his chin, making a thoughtful humming sound]

How about...Number 9! [he sits up a bit] Number 9, the Avatar would like you to...sing a song for everyone, extolling my every virtue!

[twibeast]

[ He’s just eating a snack and minding his own business but his tail perks up when he double-checks his stick ]

H-Huh? Me?

NUMBER 4 AND NUMBER 12 GET OVER HERE

[philomachy]

Numbers four and twelve.

[oh no]

Engage in combat.

[STOP--]

[draconite]

Four, you say?!

[ Bryn IMMEDIATELY springs up with her fists READY TO PUNCH!!! ]

[seaweedwrap]

[SPIRITS, ZENOS, WHAT--]

What--no!

~Spooky Stories~

[seaweedwrap]

[At some point, Wu is going to herd what people he can into a circle] It wouldn’t be a pajama party without scary~ stories~ [he sure is doing a “spooky” finger wiggle when he says that]

So…who wants to go first?

[predecir]

I'll go first!

[For some reason, Bruno's typical anxious demeanor seems to melt away here! His voice even changes, dropping into a lower register; he's an eager storyteller!]

This is the story of La Llorona~

[spooky fingers!]

Long ago, there lived a beautiful woman named Maria. Though she was only a peasant girl, she was the most beautiful woman in her village. Every weekend, she would attend parties in the town square, dressed in her finest white gown, and men would come from miles around just to see her dancing in the firelight.

One day, she caught the attention of a rich man from another village. This man, he was known for drinking and courting freely, but from that moment on he was captivated by young Maria! For months, he arrived every week, lavishing her with expensive gifts and fine words. Finally, she agreed to go away with him.

And things were good after that - for a little while. Maria bore two sons, and the work of caring for a family? Her husband wasn't interested in that at all! Soon enough, his eyes began to wander. He didn't even have the decency to be sneaky about it, and soon he only came home to visit his sons - they were still his heirs, you see, however he felt about their mother. Men like that have their vanities. And Maria grew lonely and furious, and even came to resent her own children, who still had their father's love.

One day, as Maria and her children were walking along the river, a fancy carriage happened by. It was her husband - along with his young and pretty mistress. He stopped and spoke to the children, but he didn't say a single word to Maria. He got back in and drove away without even looking at her once! Filled with sudden rage, Maria could no longer contain herself. She seized her sons and cast them both into the river! As they disappeared downstream, she realized what she had done and ran after them - but the waters were swift, and it was already too late.

[arsholes]

[A wailing can be heard echoing through the Great Hall, as if from the walls themselves.]

[encelevenemus]

[Eventually--and probably after a glass of wine--Somnus made the unwise and likely mood-killing decision to speak up himself.]

[wu's probably dead. this ain't about him]

If Lucis in the current day and age tells stories of hauntings and the like- [the derision was palpable in his tone] -I know naught of it. In the days of the kingdom's infancy, reality was a source of greater fear than any fiction.

The realm as mankind knew it was built on the ashes of another--of lost Solheim, a civilization that had grown powerful enough to become arrogant in their strength. In this arrogance did they spurn the god which had granted them the very spark of fire at the advent of humanity--Ifrit, the Infernian. Upon seeing Solheim's heresy in turning away from the Astrals, the Pyreburner put all of Solheim to the flame. The rest of the Hexatheon, sworn and dutybound to protect the star, themselves fought against Ifrit in turn--thus waging what was called the Astral War.

...Or so the legends say it began. There were none left who truly remembered, even when I yet lived. But in the legend lay a measure of truth, for the Infernian laid a horrific scar upon the world which persisted ages upon ages into the future.

[pegasinister]

Heh, my own people have a similar story of the goddess bringing down fire to punish her sinful children, leaving a destroyed landscape that still burns to this day.

.... turned out it was actually done with human weapons. Funny, that.

[just gonna siiiiip the plum wine he's nursing, looking smug]

[spitessier]

...I'll sit out of this one.

[Not because he's spooked -- but because this sort of thing could be so dangerous in his world. Rumors become reality. His team, and he himself, have taken advantage of this to spread word about special demons they could attack and defeat.

It probably won't happen here because this isn't Sumaru City but still...]

[amitiesbind]

I can go. This one's scary because it's real. My mom told it to me, when she was in Ar- the hospital.

[ That's easier than announcing what kind of place her mom was to a room full of people, or why she was there.

Olive takes a breath. ]

This is the story of the Smiling Man. There are stories like this out there - where I'm from, anyway - and they're all basically the same. You go into a bathroom or something like that, you say something, and something happens in a mirror. You know, regular conditions for scaring the hell out of a kid because mirrors in the dark mess with people. Tricks of the light, things in your peripheral vision...

Not The Smiling Man. Not really.

[ By now, Olive is uncharacteristically Into This. She's still quiet, like usual, but there's a gravity to her voice. Drama. ]

My mom was at a sleepover like this one, back in high school. They were bored. Everyone was bored, because no one's ever liked a school-organized sleepover. So some kids my mom knew snuck out to summon the Smiling Man.

The thing that makes the Smiling Man different from a Bloody Mary or something like that is that you don't just go in and chant something. You have to earn him showing up. You have to tell a joke.

If the Smiling Man likes the joke? He'll show. If he doesn't? He won't. The same joke doesn't work twice, and it has to impress him. And his sense of humor is... dark.

The girl tells a joke, hopes it's dark enough. Nothing.

The first boy tells a joke, hopes it's nasty enough. Nothing. Normal high school jokes, mostly for shock value.

Then the second boy tries. The last of the three of them. My mom never learned what the joke he told was - neither of the other kids would repeat it. Too perverse. Too dark. And neither of them met the Smiling Man that night. They never saw anything in the mirror. And... in a way, the second boy didn't meet the Smiling Man either.

He saw himself. Same hair, same clothes, same face - but his mouth... his mouth was stuck in an unearthly grin. Smiling, ear to ear. The first kid to ever be able to count all his teeth with his mouth closed.

[ Olive looks around the room, not a trace of a smile on her own face. ]

And it stuck. Never in real life, but any time he looked in a mirror from that point on? That rictus grin, staring daggers back at him. You never think about how many times you see your reflection in a day, do you? Mirrors are one thing - mirrors in lockers, mirrors in bathrooms, mirrors in bedrooms - but then there's puddles. Water bottles. His girlfriend's glasses - his girlfriend's eyes, under them. All frozen. All grinning. All staring right at him.

He was in the hospital too, with my mom. Shattered a mirror in a school hallway and just started laughing and laughing. He wasn't laughing anymore, but... he hadn't been able to handle looking at his own reflection since. He still sees himself, after all.

[nomansbosom]

...I got one, I think. It's- kind of like Olive's, I guess? With reflections and junk. They call him the Glass Man. Or, uh, the Glass Mirror of Ooo.

[He takes a breath, definitely not making this up as he goes.]

If you're ever by the ocean and really desperate for help and junk- like super yogaballs desp, life and death style- your reflection in the water'll rise up and answer.

And it'll help, sure, but. Then it wants something. You need to become the reflection in its place. The Mirror Man will just kind of go around living your life, and the messed up part is everyone you know just buys it. You're still there, but you're basically a- I dunno, a ghost or a stranger in your own life.

Anything you try to do to prove otherwise donks up somehow, too, cursed magic style.

And if you try just fighting the Mirror Man?

[He makes a little smacking gesture with his fists.]

He shatters you. Like a mirror. ...Full circle like.

HOT GOSSIP i mean. info sharing.

[strongestfeelings]

[At some point in the night, Stella will rally everyone around her for a good ol’ group hang. This is the whole reason some of you have even showed up, she might as well follow through. Once everyone’s gathered, she starts… well, almost holding court.]

Congratulations on no one killing one another this week. That means it’s just three more.

After this week’s surprise [She’s casting Wu a look. He still hasn’t escaped the look.], we should try and prevent any more. Has anyone collected any information?

… And I won’t say no to gossip, either.

[predecir]

[Bruno has, presumably, been coaxed away from wallflower status by now, so he's here!]

Uh...I don't know if this is important, but there's some kind of translation magic in here. I just thought you all spoke really good Spanish, but I guess not, heh. It doesn't work all the time, though.

[squidproquos]

[ Oh, he's here for the hot goss. He's got a little notebook out and a pen, ready to take down information. ]

[strongestfeelings]

Can we talk about that creepy cat?

Has he asked you for anything weird?

[nomansbosom]

There are either zero secret passages in the library or they're REALLY WELL HIDDEN.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

According to the Alchemist, we're in 2021, and it's March. I'm not sure why the technology and the supplies in here are all over the place, but he must have gathered them from different places and times, like us.

[rikonstructed]

The locked doors won't open to anything akin to lock-picking. I assume those with magical methods have tried them.

[But that's definitely a question, nevermind the punctuation.]