Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

[lucetimods]

Who: Everybody!
What: The Halloween Ball is finally here.
When: Evening of October 31st. (Or earlier, for those who arrive pre-Ball to take advantage of the safety bubble.)
Where: In the village's main plaza.
Summary: After one of the most grueling weeks Luceti's ever known, it finally all comes to a head when a massive, spooky tent appears over the plaza. Once night falls, you never know what might happen...
Rating: Anywhere from PG to R for language or graphic descriptions, most likely.

It happens at midnight.

Without even a hint of a whisper, faster than you can even blink, the tent appears; a towering monstrosity of dirty, ripped canvas in stripes of black and red and white, swallowing the plaza whole. For most of the day it sits, silent and empty, with its great main flaps pulled open to show only inky blackness inside.

Step inside, however, and you'll see it's dimly lit with silver shafts of light that streak in through all those rips and tears. As foreboding as it appears, it's strangely peaceful inside.

Come 7:00 on the dot, that quiet, empty interior will instantaneously transform for the purposes of the evening. Even this sudden change, unlike many Luceti resident have undergone lately, is not as eerie as one might expect. Despite the gothic trappings, the blood punch fountain, there's something a little benign about it. Perhaps this is meant to be a reward for all that suffering you've been forced to endure for almost a week now.

Or maybe -- just maybe -- and who would ever think such a thing? -- it's not so benign after all.

(so, so sorry this is late, guys. have at it, comment-spam style! also, optional suggestion: put the time of day in your subject line title so we know if your character is showing up before or during the Ball itself.)

Comments

[during the ball]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Even if he hadn't been forced to wear yet another silly costume (http://i817.photobucket.com/albums/zz99/tenkanstar/30003.png) this year, Caesar wasn't exactly the sociable type. He never liked big gatherings like this - there were too many people, and he hated that they would be expecting him to act a certain way. But if being here meant not losing any wings, or not having to experience those hallucinations anymore, he could stand it for a few hours.

...of course, he probably won't speak to anyone unless they speak to him first. Socializing wasn't among his priorities for the night. Or ever.]

[during the ball]

[analyzing]

[And here is Rise, looking fairly hassled. This place was a temporary reprieve from all of Dojima's voices that she and Nanako had been hearing for the past few days, but she wasn't keen on staying for too long.

After all, it did seem far too convenient...

Hello, fair Caesar. How is your makeup?]

Evening.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar looks over at Rise when he hears her voice. The greeting might have been a bit more embarrassing if she hadn't already seen him in his costume. Rise was also noticeably less cheerful tonight, so it made greeting her in his usual manner much, much easier.]

Good evening. Uh... Holding up okay?

[analyzing]

Yeah. Well enough, I guess.

[She nods as she says this, but her expression doesn't change. How would she tell someone that the TV seemed to be misbehaving- and not in the normal sense too?]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

Good to know. [He nods. She seemed to have something else on her mind, but he won't bother to ask. If she wanted to talk about it, that was up to her.]

[analyzing]

[I'm sorry, but a makeup session doesn't count as a S. Link auto-up. :(]

How about you?

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[You say that like it's a bad thing!]

I'm all right. I don't have it half as bad as some of the other people here, I suppose.

[analyzing]

[Maybe. Maybe not.]

That's good to hear. It's been getting worse for a lot of people lately.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[It really isn't. He nods.]

I must be one of the lucky ones. Have they gotten worse for you?

[analyzing]

[It's not a bad thing that makeup sessions aren't auto-up for S. Links? 'A'? 'v'?]

A little. It's not as bad as the other day, just... [She trails off, searching for the correct word to use.] A little more disturbing.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[He doesn't want that kind of S. Link! :<]

Disturbing sounds right. I would hate to have a truly active imagination right now. [That's supposed to be a joke, I promise.]

[analyzing]

[But the Persona that you get for maxing it out has Mediarahan and Spell Master... :(

She laughs rather weakly though. That was not funny, man.]

Yeah? It'd be nice if that's all that makes the difference.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[But Caesar has no use for this Persona! :'(

He sighs a little.]

I'd have to agree. But I guess all we can do is hope the effects of all of this will fade soon.

[during the ball]

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[And if Caesar is looking around carefully, he'll probably note a particular demon (http://i54.tinypic.com/2envvp3.jpg) smirking at him and failing at not laughing at Caesar's very obvious misery.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar does catch sight of him, certainly - he'd normally just ignore whoever was snickering at him from a distance like that, but there was something familiar about the person in that costume. Maybe Caesar wasn't as familiar with the demon as Albert was, but he was definitely familiar enough.

...although he wouldn't have minded that telepathy stuff right now. That was convenient. But since he doesn't have that, just have a very unimpressed look instead, Yuber.]

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[It was convenient until things got weird, like during the Dragobete event. Albert probably saw things he never wanted to see then.

But that unimpressed look makes Yuber even more amused, because it makes Caesar resemble Albert a bit, and the thought of Albert in a dress is quite entertaining.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Oh, Yuber. It's a shame you weren't here last Halloween. You may have had a chance to encounter the Silverberg sisters. Just don't let Caesar know how much he looks like his brother, though, and he'll be okay.

He tilts his head at Yuber, a questioning look on his face. What do you want?]

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, well it sucks that he arrived a few weeks too late for that one. Though Caesar should know that the demon does tend to say what is on his mind no matter how much someone may not like it.

And actually, Yuber will just make this easier and teleport over to Caesar, behind him if possible just to be annoying.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[Caesar huffs a little. When Yuber disappears so suddenly, he knows exactly where he's gone.

He doesn't turn around to face the other. To most people, Yuber would be pretty close to unrecognizable, so he wasn't really worried about that. It's just that... well. Here was Caesar Silverberg, Yuber's not-quite-former-summoner, in a dress. And Yuber was laughing about it.]

Can I help you?

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[Because even the demon knows that dresses are something female humans wear and neither Silverberg is female, so it's amusing.]

Why would you show up here as a woman?

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

I know you're not stupid. I didn't choose to wear this.

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[Well, actually he didn't try to remove his own costume, because it's actually nice and a good disguise.]

It oddly suits you though.

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[At least taking the costume off didn't result in being shoved into another one this year.]

You flatter me. But would you believe it if I said you weren't the first to say that?

[blackenedchaos.livejournal.com]

[And what could get worse than a dress?]

Then it shows the humans may have some intelligence after all. It may well suit your brother, that expression earlier reminded me too much of him. [Considering Yuber is often on the receiving end of such looks, yeah.]

[mydearapple.livejournal.com]

[...good point. Caesar wasn't even fortunate to be stuck in a long dress this year despite what that picture may show - he was freezing showing as much leg as he was this evening.]

I don't doubt that it would. [I-ignoring that part about the familiar expression. As far as Caesar was concerned, they were still nothing alike. Never ever.] I always thought these things would look better on him.