Character Halloween

[Castle ~ Second Floor (Hall of Paintings —> Hallway)] (Oswald, Krajn)

"Ah, an even greater relief." Oswald said, looking up from the limp costume remnants. "Although," he frowned, narrowing his eyes in a very overt, very dramatic fashion, "that doesn't necessarily prove a thing, now does it? Vampires... well, it can be hard to follow their trends in musical taste. One century it's blaring church organs, and then the next they're all about cheap Halloween mixtapes. For all we know, the party could have been completely overrun by the bloodsucking bums." He paused, glancing back down at the bear once more, then at the door to the hall ahead. "Well, think garlic-tinged thoughts."

He stepped away from the bear suit and followed Krajn into the hall, pausing one last time to turn his gaze towards the window sitting at the far end of the hall they were leaving. There was very little light to illuminate it, and from where he was standing there was no clear picture of the outside beyond. Watching from a distance, Oswald blinked once, twice, then moved along.

"Mmm," he nodded, standing with Krajn just outside the door that would lead them back down to the first floor, "I suppose we're all bound—or at least predisposed—to certain habits and behaviors by our cultural ties. Some things you can't so easily shake off, even if you believe that you'd be better off without them." He shrugged, brushing off some dust from the sleeve of his shirt, though most of it just ended up on his glove. "Onward to the land of the living then?"

[Ballroom]

Harry waved somewhat feebly at Moreena and Recon; their behavior in the last few minutes was not making him feel any more at ease around them than he had been any earlier this night. But I guess it takes all types.

"Have fun," he said, before turning back towards Priss. At least she only gave him the creeps occasionally, and in normal-person ways.

"Ah, I get it," he said in response to her previous question. "But if the police ever did get too bothered by it, couldn't you just... hang up the armor or something? I mean, I assume the fact that a well-known music artist occasionally goes out and fights robots is not public knowledge."

[Second Floor Hallway -> Ballroom (Oswald, Krajn)]

"One would certainly hope so," Krajn said drily. She made her way into the landing and began descending the stairs back into the entrance hall, which seemed no different than it had been earlier that night.

"I think it's more neurological than cultural," she continued, resuming their previous topic. "But the difference can be hard to tell when the species has been monocultural for so long, as mine was."

She yawned slightly, though she did her best to conceal it. Again, the thought crossed her mind that realizing it was later at night than she'd thought had perhaps not been a good thing. But then, it wasn't as though there was much else she needed to do tonight.

Once in the entrance hall, she looked backwards briefly to check that Oswald was following her - not that she was worried otherwise - then followed the alien sound of the rock music into the ballroom.

[Castle ~ Second Floor (Hallway) —> First Floor (Entrance Hall)] (Oswald, Krajn)

"Aw, but a suffocating neurological propensity isn't as romantic to overcome as something more akin to a longstanding and equally suffocating cultural precept." Oswald said, climbing down the stairs behind Krajn. "At least, I don't think so. More intrapersonal, perhaps, but it doesn't carry the same daring weight or heroism as that more open rebellion." He paused at the foot of the stairs for a thoughtful moment. "Mmm, not that any of that matters in the slightest, but you aren't going to find nearly as many films dealing with neurological struggles. Not in my experience, that is."

Oswald stopped again outside the doorway to the ballroom, keeping to one side; out of view from any within. Before Krajn had gotten more than a few steps into the ballroom, he hissed her name, "Krajn! Hold on- hold on a moment."

Oswald continued to brush himself off as he waited to get her attention, picking cobwebs out from between his horns and dusting his sleeves and pant legs to the best of his abilities. His clothes were still coated with a noticeable layer of dust, and there was even some on the exposed parts of his head, as well as on his tail. He reached towards his mask, but ended up scratching awkwardly at the side of his face instead of taking it off. He glanced at Krajn, then at the ballroom beyond, and quietly asked, "Er... how do I look?"

[Ballroom]

"I could. But would I?" Priss shrugged. "I know, for a fact, that at least Green and White can't hang up the armor. It's not White's day job but White's built their self-image, their self-esteem, into our suits and our being the number one annoyance in the life of a particular megacorp CEO. When the military came to town they had a visible crisis because the soldier boys were suddenly a bigger problem to Genom then we were. Green turned pro; she gave up her day job to be Green, to work in the armor for a living. Even if we all tried to quit, I'm pretty sure Green would just defect to the Spacies or something. The armor, the hunt, it's a part of her now. She couldn't stop being Saber Green any more than she could tear off her own arm."

Priss sighed. "And I got into this for the bloody vengeance. Somebody killed my boyfriend. I was properly motivated. I have a new boyfriend. My career in music has gone way up from the days I hung out with people in biker gangs. But I don't know that the possibility, the maybe, isn't still important to me. I think it is. I'm not sure."

[Entrance Hall (Oswald, Krajn)]

"Well, my people are no strangers to stories about people defying their cultural norms because of their heart," Krajn said lightly, "though I don't know if you meant 'romantic' in that sense. Suffice it to say that the old ways were rather intolerant..."

She stopped at noticing that Oswald actually had stopped following her, and pulled back out of the ballroom into the entrance hall. At his question, she tilted her head curiously and gave him a look-over. "You look fine, I - I suppose," she said hesitantly. "I mean, you're covered in dust, but so am I... honestly, I'm not sure what you want me to say. I'm not really a good choice for assessing the appearances of humans, Oswald."

[Ballroom]

Harry was silent for a moment while he digested that. Obviously all of the references were unfamiliar to him, but he could follow most of them anyway, and others - "Spacies" probably equals the first off-planet generation - be about right for that time without contact, I bet - could be guessed at. He glimpsed Krajn step into the ballroom for a moment before heading back out, and raised an eyebrow. As best as he could tell given the nature of her costume, she looked covered in dust.

I guess that answers what she was doing, then.

He was silent a moment longer, then spoke up. "Okay, I've been wondering this for a while, and - since the party's nearly over, and I'm not gonna have another chance - I gotta ask. How does a dead - murdered - boyfriend lead you to fighting robots? I mean, you've said these robots aren't human-analogue AI, so their killing someone wouldn't be murder. Unless..." he trailed off.

edited 4th Feb '15 1:38:13 AM by nrjxll

[Ballroom]

"Oh, come now, you're grown up." Priss replied, amused. "People give orders to robots. Or people neglect robots and they go crazy. It's moral liability either way. You don't think I fight them because they legitimately glitch out this much? There are a lot of them, but not that many. Even the cops know that a lot of the glitches are fake, but knowing and proving it to a jury are different things."

She waved to the other two.

edited 4th Feb '15 1:32:35 AM by Night

[Ballroom > Elsewhere > Out]

Moreena waved back, and moments later she and Recon disappeared into the shadows.

As she drifted away from the confining reality of the castle world and into the Storm of Creation, Moreena wondered how Recon's mind would visualize the place. What a person could see within the Storm usually said a lot about them.

She was still quite a bit annoyed that the mysterious host of the party hadn't shown up. What was the point of inviting people from all over Existence if you weren't going to meet them yourself? Still, it hadn't been a complete waste of time...

Goodbye!

[Castle ~ First Floor (Entrance Hall)] (Oswald, Krajn)

"Yes of course..." Oswald murmured, his gaze lowering for a moment and his brow knitting at the center. He glanced back up, his eyes flitting rapidly between Krajn and the ballroom beyond. "I simply don't want anyone in there to... well, to be ah..." he paused for a second, his fist raised next to his head as though he'd have to drag the rest of the words out.

But no dragging commenced. All he did was let out his breath in a cloth-muffled and slightly frustrated sigh, then he straightened up slightly, giving himself one last quick dusting as he said, "Never mind. Think nothing of it. One other thing, do you think you'll be in further need of my cloak, or may it be returned to me at this time?"

[Ballroom]

Harry paused. "Wait. Are you talking about, like, corporations trying to cover up that their robots have shoddy programming? Or is there actually some kind of conspiracy to fake robots going rogue for - whatever reason?"

[Entrance Hall -> Ballroom]

Krajn tilted her head again. "Well, I can't be certain, but I shouldn't have to walk very far to get to our ship," she said. "So it shouldn't be a problem, no." She took the cloak off and handed it to Oswald, then paused.

"Wait. Are you concerned about how people might react to" - she waved her hand vaguely around her forehand, indicating his horns - "your, er, appearance?" She sighed. "Oh, Oswald, haven't you realized yet that people at these sort of places aren't really going to care about things like that? We're all strange to each other here." She paused again. "Actually, that's probably true anywhere. But it's especially true here."

She turned and made her way into the ballroom, letting herself idly sway to the ancient human music. "Now come along. The party's almost over, after all."

[Castle ~ First Floor (Entrance Hall —> Ballroom)] (Oswald, Krajn)

Oswald took the cloak and looked away, avoiding Krajn's gaze. "Oh I know that, I know that. Even so, I- I'm... I don't want anyone to be at all... alarmed, that's all. Well- mostly all." he held the cloak away from Krajn and gave it a quick series of shakes, "As I said before, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with."

Once it had been adequately dusted, he laid his cloak over his shoulder, then tugged on the ends of his mask, making certain it was firmly in place—perhaps even too firmly, as he winced when it pulled against his muzzle's light bruising. When it seemed sufficient, he quickly put on the rest of the cloak, buttoning the hood around his horns and fastening the two sides together at his chest.

By the time he finally followed Krajn into the ballroom, he was all covered up. He'd even made a subtle point to keep his pointed tail held beneath his cloak and out of sight, leaving the horns sticking out of either side of the cloak's hood as his only defining feature. He kept close to Krajn, though walked at a very easy pace, with his hands clasped together at his waist. As he walked, his hood turned slowly left and right, trying to take in as much as it could within it's small frame of sight.

[Ballroom (Harry, Krajn, Oswald, Priss)]

Harry watched as Krajn and... someone else entered the ballroom. His attention was briefly drawn to the newcomer's unusual appearance - though it was hard to tell underneath the heavy cloak, he looked like some kind of bull-man - but he shrugged it off. He'd definitely seen weirder things, the fact that Krajn had apparently made a friend not least among them.

Krajn nodded at Harry, then gestured with her arm back and forth between him and Oswald. "Oswald, this is my partner, Harry Carter. Harry, this is my friend, Oswald Orozco."

Waiting on Priss, but thought I might as well establish everyone being in the room.

[

Priss nodded to them both, showing an utter lack of reaction to Oswald's appearance. "Charmed, I'm sure." Despite the fact she sounded at least somewhat insincere, Priss offered a small bow. "I would shake hands, but..." she gestured to her right hand with her left. The suit did technically have five fingers and could engage in many humanlike activities such as typing and gripping, but it couldn't really shake hands. Besides, people usually got nervous about sticking things in front of the muzzle of a weapon.

"Second, more or less. I mean, you want property somebody won't sell, somebody's running the construction robot a hundred feet away, it's a pretty sweet deal if you can pull it off. And there's never been a recorded instance of a combat model going nuts after reaching its intended buyer, only while being transported..." Priss shrugged at Harry. "Knowing and proving are two different things, like I said."

[Castle ~ First Floor (Ballroom)] (Oswald, Krajn, Harry, Priss)

On his way towards Harry, Oswald's hood turned in the direction of Priss, briefly pointing to the left and right of her before settling on the armored woman herself.

"Ah- the same to you." he said, offering a quick bow of his own, then straightening up, hiking his shoulders slightly, and turning his hood towards Harry. "And the Harry himself. A fine pleasure to make your acquaintance." He extended a gloved hand to be shaken, although there was a smudge of dust on the back side. As he waited, he glanced around the ballroom again, looking high and low.

"Has the party run off so soon? Or was it always this small?"

Can't think of much else to add.

[Ballroom (Harry, Krajn, Oswald, Priss)]

Harry shook Oswald's hand firmly, a bit nonplussed at the other man's manner of speech, then shook his head. "No, dude, I'm afraid most of the other guests have left already. It's not even Halloween anymore, really." He turned back towards Priss and frowned, not sure what to say to that. Sounded a bit conspiracy-theorist, really, but it wasn't like he knew anything about her world.

Am I the only one who thinks it's sort of weird that we're flipping back and forth from party stuff to killer robot stuff?

Meanwhile, Krajn opened her mouth and sniffed in the direction of the dining room, curious if there were any snacks left there. The responding scents were a definite no, at least as far as her definition of snacks went. Dismissing it with a toss of her head, she turned towards Priss, studying the human's armor suit with some curiosity. It didn't look all that thick; perhaps just meant for physical augmentation, then? Somebody else probably would have been able to speculate more about what that said about Priss's civilization, but Krajn was more interested in what she was saying.

"Sorry, what was that about combat robots going rogue?" "Or" - she shifted her posture subtly - "not going rogue, actually?"

Current Time: 1:00 AM

I'm fine keeping the chit-chat going a bit longer, but it's about time to start winding this down for good.

[Castle ~ First Floor (Ballroom)] (Oswald, Krajn, Harry, Priss)

"Only by a few hairs..." Oswald murmured, sounding somewhat disgruntled by the whole situation. "I suppose we were gone for quite a while, but I must wonder what kind of party it was where the majority of the guests feel inclined to leave long before the first dawnings of the new day, without a single—I'm not missing something here am I?" He paused to turn around, hands pressed against the back of his hips as he gave the room yet another look over, "No, it would appear not; as I said, not a single person passed out anywhere."

He glanced back at Harry, "Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to try and pass judgement, but—sans the music—this whole room shows very few signs of... well... open festivity. Partying." He folded his arms and let out a sigh, "Maybe it's this castle. Or maybe I held the wrong expectations."

Oswald fell silent for a moment, turning back around to face the others. "Well... never mind. Do either of you know, by chance, whether there is anything to eat around here? And if so, would you be so kind as to tell me where as well?"

[Ballroom]

Priss pointed. "Up that hall, last door on the left." She shrugged to Krajn. "Harry's a journalist, I'm sure he has the details..."

She glanced at her wrist and popped open the small compartment there, then nodded. "Well. Time for me to catch my flight out of here. You all be good. Or failing that, at least have fun."

Priss lingered a few moments longer in case anyone had anything more to say.

edited 7th Feb '15 5:40:11 AM by Night

[Ballroom]

Harry waved and said "Have a nice flight, dude. And, uh, good luck with the job. Day job and night job both."

Krajn, meanwhile, merely executed a short, high bow - polite, but not more so then was necessary or expected for someone she'd only briefly met. She tilted her head slightly - she would definitely have to get Priss's story from Harry later, though whatever the human woman thought, she couldn't help but suspect that he hadn't bothered to remember it in any sort of journalistic fashion. For now, though, she'd just take a moment to finally experience exactly what a Halloween party was actually supposed to be.

On that thought, she started swaying slightly to the music again, and even humming along in her faintly birdlike way.

[Dining Room]

Meanwhile, Harry turned and followed Oswald out into the hallway and towards the dining room, which was still largely full of snacks and party food. I wouldn't mind picking up a last soda, myself. Though now I sort of wish they did have beer.

Mostly, though, he was following out of curiosity about the newcomer. He cleared his throat. "So, Ozzy - you mind if I call you Ozzy? What do you think of her, man? Krajn, I mean?"

I'm assuming Ozzy would head for the dining room.

[Castle ~ First Floor (Ballroom —> Dining Room)] (Oswald, Harry)

"Mmm..." Oswald's hood turned in the direction that Priss had indicated, "ah! My many thanks."

He gave a quick last bow, then began to shuffle away from the group, stopping only when Priss subsequently announced her imminent departure. He turned his hood back, then turned all the way back around himself, murmuring, "And not but a second later..." He then raised his voice and, opting for a quick salute rather than another bow, said, "A farewell to you too, then."

He gave Krajn and Harry a last glance, then turned back around and headed into the dining room.

Oswald was standing in front of a bowl of assorted fruits, in the midst of removing his gloves and rolling up his sleeves, when Harry spoke to him. He flinched slightly, apparently unaware that he'd been followed into the dining room, but relaxed once he saw who it was.

"Ah, Harry." he said, dropping his bluish arms beneath his cloak as he faced the man. "Krajn, hmn? Your partner, yes, mmm... well, I'm rather fond of her. She makes for fine company, I'd say; a little alien to myself, if you'll forgive my word choice, but such is to be expected, and I'm sure the feeling isn't unilateral." He paused, turning his hood slightly in the direction of the ballroom, then back to Harry. In a more controlled and rather hushed voice, he said, "I don't think she'd appreciate me saying this, and indeed this isn't to say that she doesn't command a wide degree of respect from myself, but I do find it all rather cute. Ah- in some sense of the word."

edited 8th Feb '15 3:46:03 PM by Ryuhza

[Dining Room (Oswald, Harry)]

"...Cute?" Harry repeated, raising an eyebrow. Krajn? He shook his head, and muttered, mostly to himself, "Man, now I really do wish they'd included beer."

He moved over towards the drinks, and collected another soda. Popping it open, he gave Oswald another baffled glance, then took a sip, considering how to respond to that. "I have to say, I'm kind of wondering what you see in her. Don't get me wrong, she's a good person, but not a very... well, we don't really get along. I'm pretty sure she'd have said that. I'm not even sure if she really has any other friends besides" - he hesitated - "besides this one person she talks about sometimes."

They can go back to the ballroom whenever you feel like it, BTW.

edited 8th Feb '15 7:58:07 PM by nrjxll

[Castle ~ First Floor (Dining Room)] (Oswald, Harry)

"Mmmn," Oswald nodded at Harry's beer comment, "I wouldn't be surprised if its absence is a largely responsible for such punctual departures from the rest of the guests. I suppose a Halloween party full to the brim with strangers loses most of its sober appeal after midnight. Likely before midnight even, but the time offers a good excuse to make a hurried exit, eh?" He turned back to the bowl of fruit, though his hood remained partially angled towards Harry. His shadowed eyes followed the other man for a few moments, then he shrugged and drew his hands back out from beneath his cloak, continuing on with his sorting through what the bowl had to offer.

"Well, I wouldn't regard myself as an excellent judge of... er- cuteness" he said, hesitantly, "and perhaps... perhaps you can chalk up my relative fascination with Krajn to my simple and complete inexperience with any other members of her species- nor any species outside of humans and the Earthly animal kingdom, although I am loathed to say that such would the case. I mean, certainly Krajn can be a little stuffy, but most people are if you prod the right places. In her case, I think it makes it all the more fun to bounce ideas off of her, even if only to see how she reacts."

He picked out a medium-sized green apple from the basket, turning it over in his hands and tapping different spots with his thumb. "As for having few friends, perhaps she feels a, ah... neurological restraint that makes it difficult to bond easily with others. Or maybe it's something else entirely. Some people simply find it hard to make friends." Seemingly satisfied with his inspection of the apple, Oswald reached up and pulled his face mask down to his neck, at the same time allowing his tail to hang below the bottom of his cloak, though still hovering above the floor. It was clear he was trying to do it casually, but his movements were still a little stiff; a little tense. "It's not as though she's rude. At least, not in my experience. On the contrary, most of the time she's so polite and proper that I get this odd sterile feeling about our conversations." he shrugged, took a bite of the apple and shook his head, "Maybe it's her line of business. Although... then, that would make it your line of business too, wouldn't it?"

[Dining Room (Oswald, Harry)]

Harry waved his free hand in an "eh" gesture. "Pretty much all qrtxians are kind of prim," he said. "I know that sounds like stereotyping, but seriously, they spent the first two thousand years of their existence as a species under one of the most stuffy-reactionary government-ideology-things in the history of the galaxy. That doesn't change quickly, even with the ones like Krajn's..." he hesitated, not sure what the right word would be for the Qvn Jxilkr (and not wanting to go into too much detail about them if Krajn hadn't), "Krajn's people, who are trying specifically to get away from that."

He lifted his soda for another drink, then nearly spit it out as Oswald's next comment sank in. "Whoa! Um, we're not really in the same business. Line of business, whatever. She's... we're partners, yeah, but until a few months ago Cecelia and I were just reporters." Kind of. "In the end this is probably going to be a temporary thing."

And good for that. It'd be horribly bogus to spend time behind Krajn's back talking about the things that annoyed him about her, but Harry was still getting the feeling that Ozzy was seeing her through overly shiny eyes. Though maybe she does have a nicer side if you get to know her. Not sure I want to try, though.

He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm not bothered by you liking her. I don't mean to be all everyone-should-be-social, but it's a good thing she can make a friend. I was just a little puzzled by the how and why."

[Castle ~ First Floor (Dining Room)] (Oswald, Harry)

Oswald was mostly quiet, nodding slowly and chewing as Harry talked. By the time Harry was finished, Oswald had reached the core of the apple, dangling it by the stem, pinched between his fingers.

"It sounds as though there's a handful of personal context behind a lot of this," he said, "and I don't want to get too nosy here. If there are things Krajn didn't deem fit to share with me, I ought not seek those answers from you without prior consult with her. However, to perhaps give you a better grasp on our..." he spiraled his free hand out in front of him, "relations, I will say this: oh- and again, I don't mean to accuse you of anything by these words, but: it helps to understand, or at least try to understand or imagine the position the other person is in. To see where they're coming from, right? The old "put yourself in their shoes" advice, but it is a good piece of advice. A fundament of empathy. With hard-wrought empathy can come understanding, and from understanding you can cultivate much, such as, say, friendship. Or at least a positive relationship of some sort. Perhaps you've heard something along these lines before. It's not the best advice I can give, but I do think it relates well to the 'how' and the 'why.'"

He paused, his eyes turned downward, but a smile slowly grew on his face. "If nothing else, you could always try to get lost together. If you don't end up at each other's throats, you might just find yourselves a little closer. Anyway..." he glanced away, then up towards the ceiling, and then at the far end of the table. "Do you see any Halloween candy around here?" he asked, then twisted off the apple's stem and popped the core into his mouth.

[Dining Room (Oswald, Harry)]

Harry chuckled, although it sounded a bit forced. "Now you sound kind of like Cecelia. 'Just get trapped together somewhere and it'll all be groovy'." Although I think she's just trolling. Though now I sort of wonder if - nooo, not going there. His voice turned more serious as he continued, "But you do have a point - I guess it's worth a try. Seems to have worked fine for you, at least. And I mean, like I said, I can tell she's a good person. She'd do anything to protect a total stranger - I've seen it myself."

At the question about Halloween candy, he looked around in a obligating fashion, but he already remembered not seeing anything - at least anything obvious - before. "I don't think so. Kind of weird to not have it, isn't it? One of the other things I would have asked the host of this thing about had ze ever bothered to make an entrance."

He scratched his neck. "In fact, that's one reason I won't mind getting out of this place. It gives me the creeps, and I don't just mean the ooooooo-spooky stuff either. It's like someone tried to create the perfect Halloween setup, but... they didn't quite know enough to make it perfect. Like that faux university thing Krajn and I went to once."

Good night.

edited 9th Feb '15 1:14:59 AM by nrjxll

[Castle ~ First Floor (Dining Room)] (Oswald, Harry)

"None?" Oswald said incredulously, his mouth part-full of apple core. He gave the table another quick—almost frantic—look himself, walking towards one side, and then the other, but evidently finding no more than Harry had in his own once-over. "Damn, I thought for sure there would be some." He gave a large sigh and folded his arms, brow set into a frown as he chewed the rest of the apple's remains with a series of loud crunches.

"And no host either, hmn?" He turned his head towards Harry. "Well, that's not entirely surprising, though I wonder if the party wouldn't have fared better if the host had the grace to show themselves." the corners of his mouth pulled into a small smile. "Perhaps they would've had fewer guests wandering aimlessly through the castle for lack of any better ideas."

At the mention of the university, Oswald's smile grew larger and drier. "And you two departed before the curtain was drawn all the way back. My oh my, didn't you miss out." Despite his words, the sigh that followed them was more embittered than anything else.

[Dining Room (Oswald, Harry)]

"Maybe," Harry agreed. "Or maybe there is no host. Maybe the castle itself is alive, and set all this stuff up. Woooooo..." He wiggled his fingers with the humor that came from knowing it'd been a while since the spectral music had stopped.

Actually, that's not even all that Halloweeny. Never mind.

He lifted his soda can to his mouth again, then paused before taking a sip. "Whoa, you were at that university place too? Huh. So what it did - sorry, did it - turn out to be in the end? Sounds like you got some answers at least."

He took a sip, then continued "And speaking of answers and wandering aimlessly through the castle, I'm assuming you and Krajn didn't meet our absentee host up there, but did you run into anything interesting?"

edited 10th Feb '15 12:54:31 PM by nrjxll