Subject: "Urk."
Author:
Posted on: 2018-05-21 23:33:00 UTC
Ix swallowed and shook her head, taking a half step back in a feeble attempt to hide behind Charlotte. Seeing as how she was a head taller than her partner, this didn't exactly work too well.
"Wait a second..." Charlotte looked between Ix, Tom, and Thoth curiously. "You guys have met before? When did that happen?"
In grand tradition (okay, the grand three-year tradition that eventually ended up skipping last year, just roll with it), the Purim RP is back! It’s the latest Purim RP yet, and that’s saying something, considering last year’s almost happened seven weeks after Purim...this one, meanwhile, clocks in at about two and a half months past the actual holiday. With the completely different holiday of Shavuot (...Feast of Weeks, I think it gets called in English?) happening very soon (Saturday night/Sunday day, as well as Monday in most places).
If you're wondering, So what is this Purim thing, anyway? look no further! Or rather, please feel free, but here's a brief explanation to get you started!
Purim is a Jewish holiday which is celebrated in the spring. This year, it fell on March 1st (beginning the evening of February 28th--in the Jewish calendar, the day begins and ends at sunset, not midnight. This is why you get things like big Friday night dinners for Shabbat, instead of everything being on Saturday).
Purim commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people living in Persia and Medea at the time of King Ahasuerus (who is generally identified with Xerxes I). Essentially, Ahasuerus fell out with his first wife, Vashti, and found a new one in Esther, a young Jewish woman. Upon the advice of her uncle-cousin (there's some debate) Mordechai, who raised her, she hid her religion. This eventually enabled her to defeat the plan of Haman, the king's adviser who decided to commit mass genocide of the Jewish population via a decree telling the rest of the citizens to get their murder on on a specific day. He got this day by going and having lots cast before him. That's where the name of the holiday comes from: ‘Purim’ literally means ‘lots.’ The Scroll of Esther, which tells the Purim story, ends with Mordechai and Esther instituting the holiday and its customs (and then a coda about Ahasuerus' new taxes and Mordechai's status as his new adviser--chapter ten is very short).
Why make an RP out of this holiday? Well, it lends itself very well to RPing. Purim parties are popular in the Real World, and traditions include dressing up--yes, all ages--eating a particular type of cookies called hamantaschen, and (optionally) drinking “until you can’t tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai.” Singing is also frequent, as are ‘Purim spiels’ (little plays retelling the Purim story, often made into musicals, very often performed by kids). The less RP-fitting parts are giving charity, hearing the Scroll of Esther (aka ‘the Megillah’, which...means ‘scroll’) read in the evening and morning, and delivering little gifts of food and drink (often hamantaschen and grape juice as a standard, but they can get wild apparently) to friends and neighbors.
A quick note: costumes! Sounds a bit like Halloween, yes? Well, the tendency here is not generally towards scary or revealing costumes. Popular choices (especially for children) include characters from the Purim story, though pretty much everything else gets in there too. And yes, some people don’t dress up, or just wear a mask or headband or something odd and remarkable like a straw hat with challah on it (seen, to the best of my memory, on a beloved, aging Holocaust survivor)--but dressing up definitely doesn’t end around the teenage years.
At any rate: We’re back! And here we go...
*
As ever, the rules/guidelines are as follows:
-Everyone is welcome. That means new agents, old agents, reluctant agents, enthusiastic agents, agents who wandered in by mistake…everyone. It also means minis, kids, and possibly pets. Free-To-Use Agents are also good.
-This is newbie-inclusive! While I know some newbies (often depending on just how new they are) have agents they’re thinking about, many other newbies don’t–and, well, this is Purim. It’s a party. Everyone should be able to come! So…everyone includes Boarders, with the condition that you’re incognito! Pretend to be your costumes, pretend to be newly-recruited agents, whatever you like–as long as you remember that the vast majority of PPC HQ’s inhabitants don’t know the Board exists (and would forget if they found out). Of course, this isn’t just for newbies; if you’re not a newbie and you really, really want to, write yourself in! The same rules apply, though. (This doesn't always happen, but you're certainly welcome to go for it!)
-A new reminder: please remember that the Constitution is in effect. If an author (not a character) expresses discomfort with something happening in an interaction with their character, please pay attention even if the thing in question doesn't bother you.
-On canon-compliance: this one is up to you. For my part, I take most of what my agents get up to in this RP as canon, to the point of working the occasional reference into various works in progress. Referencing relatively vague details that didn't make it to the RP but are headcanoned by the author(s) of the characters is probably also something I'll end up doing eventually--such as, "Did he really get so drunk he started dancing on the tables?" "Oh, he'd barely had anything. He just wanted to re-enact the Green Dragon scene, even though he came dressed as Frodo." "He did fall off, though, right?" "Yeah, right onto that one agent who came as the Lady Galadriel..." …Anyway, you can call this canon or not (or anything in between) for your agents as you wish! It’s entirely up to you.
-Have fun! It is Purim, after all, and Purim is a time for celebration. So let’s celebrate!
*
*Note: This Purim RP, while RL-wise taking place about two and a half months after March 1st, is in-universe happening at the appropriate time. (Boarders inside the RP can mention time-travel if you like, though.)
*Oh! Another note: I'm available for questions, especially about anything in this post that isn't clear enough. I'm all for cultural exchange! I'll be mostly offline over the weekend, though, so don't expect immediate answers from me.
*
And finally...the opener! Also in grand tradition :) Fun fact: the very first one was a multicolored textual invitation.
Let's journey now to RC Pie (that's 2.1459) and the disentanglers that inhabit it to start off the party! Or, in this case, setting out for the party...
“You're going as John Hart again?” Agen_t rolled zir eyes and put down the gun ze was cleaning.
“What's wrong with repeating a great costume?” Edgar Sullivan finished buckling his belt and reached for the katana that lay on the kitchen table. Well, what passed for their kitchen, anyway.
“It makes you seem boring.” Agent stretched and folded zir hands behind zir head. “Hints at a lack of creativity, in fact.”
Edgar shrugged. “It's a great costume, it looks good, and I like it. I don’t have any reason not to use it.” He adjusted the belt so that the sheathed katana wouldn’t bump his leg, and reached for something best described as a space pistol.
“You have a disguise generator,” Agent reminded him. “An RC full of items. A general store! Character replacements to loot—and don't tell me you don't do that. I know you. We've been partners for nearly four years.”
Edgar sighed. “I like this one. Anyway, if you’re so into creativity, where’s your costume?”
Agent shrugged. “I’m wearing it.”
Edgar eyed zir. “That’s just one of your old suits. Are you going as a SHIELD agent, or something? Because if so, I have something to say to you about creativity.”
Agent sighed and slid zir sunglasses down over zir blue eyes. “Don’t you see?” Ze spread zir arms wide and wiped most of the expression from zir face. “I’m a newly recruited bit character with practically no personality.”
Edgar rolled his eyes forcefully. “You’re going as a younger you.” Agent shrugged one shoulder very slightly, and Edgar nodded. “Right, yeah. That thing about creativity? Yours needs work.”
Agent shrugged again. “At least I haven’t used it as a costume before. And besides...it is a costume now.”
Relative silence fell, broken only by the shuffle of mini-Luggage feet in the background, until Edgar shook his head.
“Oh, no. You’re not getting me with the sap. I might be proud and pleased you’re all personed up now, but it’s not going to distract me from the fact that you’re a hypocrite.”
Agent shrugged. “It was worth a try, wasn’t it? Have you got everything put together now?”
“Just about,” Edgar said. He picked up the period coat that was one of the biggest parts of the costume, and shrugged into it. “There we go. Tell me you’re not bringing the gun.”
“Of course I’m not bringing the gun.” Agent pushed the pieces tidily together and wiped off zir hands, before unbuttoning zir suit jacket and pushing it aside to show a different gun in a generic holster. “I’m bringing this one. SHIELD standard issue.”
Edgar sighed. “Of course you are. Alright—let’s just go. The sooner we leave, the sooner Carrrot and Neinor and the rest can start making a mess.”
The shuffle of mini-Luggage feet stopped suspiciously. The two disentanglers exchanged glances.
“I plan to bring back a good supply of cookies this year,” Agent said casually. “I won’t be sharing them with anyone, or anything, that hasn’t been on good behavior since I left, though. I think that sounds reasonable.”
“Oh, very reasonable,” Edgar said. He grinned at the utter silence in the RC. “Come on—let’s go party. Maybe we’ll even bring back some of the little pita chip things this year...those are very good for sharing…”
“Extra chocolate hamantaschen,” Agent added. “Those always go quickly. We’d better hurry if we want some.”
“Good point.”
They left, grinning at each other once the door had closed behind them.
“Well, that went well.”
“There will be some kind of mess when we get back,” Agen_t said. Ze set off down the hallway, pushing zir sunglasses back up. “There always is.”
“You never know,” Edgar said, and followed his partner. “Maybe today will be the day…”
Chelsea put on her kitty ears headband. She looked to her partner and asked, “Whachu going as?”
“A pirate,” said Lemon. She just put on a black eyepatch and was now wrapping a yellow bandana around her head.
“You’re already kinda dressed like a pirate without the eyepatch and bandana, though.”
Lemon did not respond to that comment.
Chelsea looked at Lemon’s outfit, then back at her own. She was wearing a pink, sleeveless dress with a short, poofy skirt and now she was considering changing into her ninja outfit. Her mind went back and forth, trying to decide between going as a pink catgirl or a ninja.
“Are we ready to go?” asked Lemon.
“Uh, hang on a sec.” Chelsea took the top part of her ninja outfit and pulled it over her dress.
“What are you doing?”
Instead of answering right away, Chelsea looked down at her feet. She took off the pink boots she was wearing and put on black two-toed boots. Now she was dressed as a kitty-eared ninja with a pink skirt.
Chelsea grinned. “Nyow I’m ready!” she exclaimed, striking a pose.
Lemon covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
“What?”
“Nothing. Let’s go.”
---
((I think this is my first time rping, so I’m not used to this. Anyway, my agents are Chelsea, an Inkling (Splatoon) and Lemon, a rat (Sonic the Hedgehog).))
With the hand he wasn't using to hold a taped-up wand, he waved the two over to where he was contentedly standing and watching by a wall.
"Hello. Your... interesting costumes caught my eye, so I figured I'd want to talk." He laughed again. "Sorry, I don't mean this in a mocking way. Ad hoc costumes sometimes make for quite interesting people."
After a few seconds, he blinked. "Sorry again, I haven't introduced myself. Connor Callahan, no relation to other agents, at your service." He pointed around the room. "Aside from my sisters Amber and Erika, that is." Putting the wand in his robe pocket, he extended his hands to the agents.
-Twistey
“Nice to meet you! I’m Chelsea! Chelsea Seaward.” She then shook Connor’s right hand.
Lemon shook Connor’s other hand. “Call me Lemon.”
After both agents let go, Chelsea asked, “So uh, what’s up?”
Connor gestured to a pair of robots that were wandering around the room. "These two made a decently grand entrance, which turned rather anticlimactic as it looks like they wanted to DJ but couldn't. I also overheard something brief about someone who showed up without a costume." He shrugged. "Standard party stuff."
-Twistey
She stared at the robots, mentally taking note of their details. “Oh my cod.” She turned her head back to her partner and Connor. “I would’ve loved to see them DJ!”
Lemon looked at the robots. “It’s funny. So far, the only robots I’ve seen have guns attached to them.”
Chelsea smirked. “Maaayybe they aren’t like the ones in your continuum.”
“I suppose not.” Lemon shrugged.
"I swear, Eggman must have a monopoly on the technology in that world." Connor laughed. "I love the Sonic continuum." He looked at Chelsea. "Haven't played Splatoon, but I do like the world-building. I just tire of the other people on online games pretty quickly. You won't believe the kinds of stories I have to tell..."
-Twistey
Mobian? she mouthed.
Chelsea blinked in surprise. “Sorry. It’s still kinda weird for me to hear about ‘world-building’ about my own world. But yeah, the world building’s pretty cool.”
(I should brush up on my Sonic canon.)
Connor shook his head at Lemon. "Never mind."
Seeing that the robots had nothing to do, he motioned them over to join the group. They glided forward and looked from individual to individual, then the red one waved hello.
-Twistey
Chelsea also waved back. “Hii!” She then took out her phone. “Selfie?”
((About the term “Mobian”, I think it’s only in the comics and maybe the western TV shows. I haven’t read the comics or watched much of the shows to be sure. I don’t think that term’s a thing in the games.))
In case you're still looking through these posts, I'll reply.
The red robot nodded, and huddled close behind Chelsea. The blue one hesitated, then did the same.
"Hah," said Connor. "Looks like we've got ourselves more friends already." He thought to himself. These robots looked familiar, but he wouldn't press the issue just yet.
-Twistey
“Seems like it,” Lemon agreed, smiling at the scene.
Chelsea tapped the camera icon on her phone’s touch screen. She set the camera to point towards her. “Okay, here we go!” With one hand, she held the phone sideways and angled it to get the robots and herself in the picture. She held her free hand in a peace sign and smiled. She pressed the button and a camera snap sounded. She tapped the recent photo icon, making photo she took expanded on her screen, then showed the photo to the robots. “Whaddya think?”
... that any agent must undergo. One of these is being thrown headfirst into a strange environment where everybody is dressed or shaped in ways that are incredibly odd and expected to interact with the world. Of course, most of the time, this is called a mission, not a party.
Still, he was determined to make the best of it. He tugged on his dress, wondering if he should be trying to cover his leggings. It was a deep purple with some kind of fur cloak, and those with the relevant experience might recognize it as that worn by Liliana Vess as the Last Hope. Indeed, it seemed that, aside from leaving him male, a disguise generator had been used to make him resemble her as closely as possible. He wasn't sure if he should have gone all-out and changed his gender as well, but then again, he hadn't chosen his costume.
The agent lurked around the edges of the party, watching as other people slowly trickled in. What exactly was he supposed to do here?
... until his partner had bothered him into it. The sheer number of people in the room was frankly intimidating, so he stayed out of the thick of the gathering, pacing slowly around the edge of the room and fiddling with the edge of his cloak.
Once Sophie was out of sight and sufficiently distracted, he paused to pull his hair back again. It was at this point that he noticed another person hovering by himself. "Hello," he said. "I see you are not much of a social butterfly either. I'm Theo."
He hadn't noticed the young man arriving. It was so hard to keep track of things like this. "Hello," he said. Social butterfly? I'll have to ask about that later. "I'm Dilx." He held out a hand and smiled at Theo. "It's nice to meet you."
Theo returned a small smile and shook Dilx's hand. "Likewise. Do you want to get a drink?" He pointed over his shoulder, toward the refreshment table. Granted, he hadn't been to very many parties, but the purpose of a party without at least a little drinking quite escaped him.
He was rather thirsty, now that he thought about it. He hadn't had anything to drink since long before they left. He started walking towards the table, fidgeting with the fur... thing, whatever it was... to keep it from getting in his way. Now... what to say. What did people generally say at parties? He had no idea. Well, might as well start with what he was used to. "So where do you work?"
... falling in step beside his newfound companion. "DMS," he said. For a moment he was silent, unsure whether the question was an invitation to ask a similar one in return. But finally he decided that staying silent was far too awkward. "What about you?" For a moment he was glad Sophie had convinced him to wear his cloak. It was a lot easier to subtly fidget with that than it would have been to subtly fidget with his jeans.
... Dilx had been glancing around them, seemingly unable to keep his attention on any one thing now that he wasn't talking. When Theo spoke, his attention snapped back to Theo, and he probably would have run into someone if he didn't periodically glance ahead. "I'm in DMS too," he said. "I don't know why they assigned me there, though."
Theo asked. He was in the DMS because he'd requested it, out of a desire to protect his home canon. It probably helped that he knew a lot about the canon. That didn't mean, of course, that he thought personnel had a good grasp of where the best place to put agents was.
He squeezed his way between two people and stopped in front of the drink table. There were quite a few options. He opted to begin with the bubbly purple punch. He didn't know what it was, but it was a nice color.
"I'm not much of a fighter," he said, before reaching up to push the hair that had fallen over his shoulder back. "And if we were killing anything but Sues, I couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it. Normally, I still don't kill them. I just read the charges."
Theo filled up a cup with punch. Finally, something in his hands that wasn't cape. "I did quite a bit of fighting in my home continuum. I suppose it would eliminate arguments over who gets to make the kill."
Dilx sighed as he reached for a cup himself, and looked at the drinks. What could he drink like this? After a long moment, he decided on a seemingly ordinary red drink labelled Actually Ordinary Fruit Punch. "Of course, there are other things to argue about, because purely peaceful partnerships are forbidden."
It was perhaps unwise to take such a large drink, since he didn't exactly know what he was drinking. It had the same warm burn as alcohol, but didn't seem to have the same effects. Aside from that it was bitter but fruity. He took another drink.
"Who is your partner?" he asked. "It is unlikely that I know them, but possible."
Dilx was pleasantly surprised to find that, yes, it was Actually Ordinary Fruit Punch. This was good, as he didn't particularly want to get drunk, especially not this early. "Animus," he said, looking over the party. "Who is yours?"
He nodded toward the table that held various solid foods. "She's over there, being herself." By "being herself" he meant stuffing entire cookies in her mouth and then attempting to talk. Oh well, as long as she wasn't trying to talk to him.
"What continua do you work in?" he asked, moving away from the drink table, which was frankly crowded.
She seemed to be enjoying herself, which was good. He looked around for his own partner, but didn't happen to see him. "My partner is around here too, but I don't see him at the moment. We usually work with continua that have extensive, occasionally confusing, and often difficult-to-track-down canons."
"It is good that someone is handling those," he said. "It sounds like it presents a particular challenge." He took a drink as he finally managed to get out of the crowd around the drink table. He was enjoying this conversation thoroughly, and had discovered that he was even losing some of his discomfort at talking to a stranger for extended periods of time.
"With the data network here, the... what was it... right, internet! With the internet here and the Canon Library, things are a lot easier to find than they would be in other universes." Dilx was relaxing as well, fairly certain now that this was what one did at parties.
"It is amazing, the information one can get at the click of a button. We had nothing like it in my home continuum." The thought of his home continuum, combined with Dilx's wording, raised a question. "What continuum are you from? The internet seems to be prevalent in many of them. I take it you are not from one of them?"
"We just didn't call it the internet. We called it something unpronounceable. As for where I'm from, I come from a particular session of a roleplaying game based in the Warhammer 40K universe." He smiled slightly, and added, "Thankfully, as far as I know, my people are still doing well, unlike... essentially everybody else. Where do you come from?"
... though I cannot say I have been there." His work as a freelance DMS agent had brought him to most of the popular continua, but never that one. He knew very little about it.
"I was a bit character recruited from a Lord of the Rings suefic," he said. "Needless to say, my people are not doing well. That is why our job is so important, though."
((Like realizing several hours late you used the wrong 'rite'.))
"Anthropology," said Thoth. "I consider it research into ancient religions." He cast his eyes about the room. "Although it seems that we should have come in costume."
"Well I was going to," Tom replied huffily, "when you decided to torch my costume."
"To save your life. When I discovered that Talia and Dagger had started a betting pool over who was going to beat you up first."
"Well, if you're so into the costuming thing, why don't you wear one? You still have your Halloween cost—"
"Under. No. Circumstances."
Tom shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm really just here for the food."
Charlotte dragged Ix over to the food table, red gown flapping in her wake. She paused when she overheard Thoth, and turned. “Hey, what’s wrong with wearing a costume?”
Ix froze when she realized who it was, and she tried to casually tug Charlotte back. “Lottie, let’s not interrupt—“
"Don't worry about it. I don't think either of us mind especially." He looked to his partner in askance.
"Discussion is indeed part of my intent in being here," Thoth confirmed.
"See? Told ya." Tom chuckled. "Anyways, he's only upset about that specific costume because he doesn't want to go as a Space Wolf again. Still amazed I convinced him it was a good idea to begin with."
"It was... galling." Thoth admitted. "The shame. The distaste for the costum. The women coming onto me..."
"It was one girl, Thoth."
"One was far too many. Especially when that one throws up on you."
"Sounds like the last time you dressed up was wild. I wish I could have seen it."
Ix was feeling very uncomfortable now; she was certain the only thing keeping her from further embarrassment was the mask keeping Thoth from recognizing her.
"Lottie, come on, she said, tugging Charlotte's arm again. "Please, let's not bother them—"
"I'm not bothering them," Charlotte said crossly. "You go on and get food, but I want to stay and chat for a bit."
"Don't worry about bothering us. We've got nowhere to be. Unless a Sue needs killing..."
Thoth nodded. "Indeed. And talking to you may well grant unexpected insights."
"As for Thoth dressing up... yeah, it was... interesting," said Tom. "I've never seen two people form a drunken friendship that fast. ...Wait a minute. Ix, was it? You were there! You can talk about it. And about how your costume made—"
"Do not speak ill of those who are not with us, Tom," Thoth cut in icily. "And remember that perhaps some things are better left unspoken of." He turned a cold gaze on Ix. "I trust that you will show more sense than my partner on that front. If you do, in fact, wish to speak."
Ix swallowed and shook her head, taking a half step back in a feeble attempt to hide behind Charlotte. Seeing as how she was a head taller than her partner, this didn't exactly work too well.
"Wait a second..." Charlotte looked between Ix, Tom, and Thoth curiously. "You guys have met before? When did that happen?"
"We met during the Halloween Party. I was dressed in the very costume that we discussed."
Tom grinned. "That was some party."
"If I did not know it impossible, I would say The Architect of Fate himself had a hand in it. But His designs are... less agreeable."
"I'll say. Tzeentch is not an agreeable god." Tom shivered. "But still more agreeable than that Naga!Harry fic. Hats off to whoever tackled that thing, because just hearing about it made me ill."
((Yes, that's a real badfic. Geema found it.))
Charlotte thought back to the previous October and snapped her fingers. "Right, we did Phantom of the Opera for that one! I remember you ran off at some point—is that when you met these guys?"
Mutely, Ix nodded.
"Huh. Well, I'm Charlotte Webb, and... you apparently already know my fiancée," she said, holding out a hand to Tom. "Though I gotta say—did anything weird happen at Halloween? Because it seems like you've got Ix spooked pretty bad."
"Tom Andrews. Computational demonologist, former Laundryverse inhabitant and it feels so good to be able to say that without my head exploding!"
Thoth nodded. "Thoth of the Fifteenth Legion Astartes, at your service."
"As for Halloween... Yeah, it was kinda nuts." Tom glanced at Thoth. "My partner seems to prefer I remain silent on details of the subject, but... well, if I say that Derik was there..."
Charlotte's hands went to her mouth and her eyes widened. "The Agent Derik? Oh my god, and Ix was dressed as the Phantom—" She slowly lowered her hands. "That... didn't end well, did it?"
"For different reasons," Ix muttered, playing with the hilt of her rapier. "But... basically, yes."
"Jeez. And how did you two fit in, then?" Charlotte asked.
"At least, in Thoth's case..." Tom shrugged. "I don't drink. Well, not often, anyways. Gall tried to drink from Thoth's hip flask, which was... a bad idea. And she still tried to come onto him!"
"We were attempting a drinking contest," said Thoth. "I won, as was expected. My tolerance is ridiculous."
"Still, I have never seen you so friendly. Or so willing to recount your history."
"I've done that many times."
Tom shrugged. "Still."
"You're just a killer with the ladies, aren't you?" she said dryly. "Wait—hang on! That must mean you're the one who nearly started a brawl in the middle of the ballroom! That was all anyone talked about after the party."
"Thoth got a bit... touchy about the weapons being waved around." Tom shrugged. "I forgot about that. There was so much else going on. Anyways, it was far from being a brawl."
Thoth nodded his assent. "Diplomacy prevailed, despite my... decision."
"Anyways, people talked about it?" asked Tom. "I didn't reckon anyone noticed..."
Charlotte laughed. "It's not every day you see agents about to throw down. Hopefully we can avoid that today, though? I'm a lot squishier than I used to be, and not very good at fighting, so I'm really not looking to start a fight."
"For my sake, as much as anyone else's." Tom frowned. "I'm not the best fighter, and I'm pretty sure that 'I shall not expose my fellow agents to Lovecraftian abominations from outside reality' is already on The TIANTDATPPC list. If it isn't, it probably should be."
Thoth didn't bother commenting on this. In his estimation, he could take on all three of them and win. Then again, it was possible there were some factors he'd overlooked. And he didn't particularly want a fight.
"...totally sure," Charlotte said, winking. "And what is it they say? It's better to ask forgiveness than permission?"
"I don't think the Flowers would appreciate Lovecraftian abominations ruining Purim," Ix said quietly. "Or any of the agents, for that matter."
"And yeah, that's why I've gone through extensive training in not summoning Lovecraftian abominations." Tom grinned. "It's harder than it sounds. And DoSAT still won't let me touch their stuff..."
"If you will not promise it, I will." Thoth seemed to raise himself up. "There will be no arms here, and no blood drawn. I would swear upon my honor, but I have little left."
“You know,” she said conspiratorially to Tom, “my best friend is in DoSAT. I bet she’d be willing to let you take a look at her stuff—if you don’t mind running the risk of getting blown up on accident.”
"Yeah, so far I've only found one tech willing to touch the stuff. Everyone else is afraid of the demons." Tom sighed. "I mean, I always run a scan and isolate them fist now. Nobody's ever died from touching my equipment... well, no here, anyways."
"...she can't be killed in the first place," Charlotte said. "She's a Steven Universe gem, so she's usually the one working on really dangerous tech. I bet she'd love to take a look at your stuff."
"Not... all of this stuff kills you. Suffice to say, she should make sure she wears gloves if she's gonna touch any exposed wires. So long as that happens, she'll be fine."
"Hm... honestly, I'm not even sure she can get electrocuted like humans," she said. "I've seen her pick up chunks of superheated metal with her bare hands before; I think she'll be fine." She nodded toward the food table. "I'm hungry, so I'm just gonna go pop off and get a plate. Be right back!"
She pecked Ix on the cheek and hurried away, leaving a very scared-looking Dread Pirate Roberts behind.
"...Look, if I did anything to upset you back on Halloween, I'm sorry," Ix blurted.
"...Did she?"
"She upset Derik," said Thoth. "However, that was a trick of fate. I do not begrudge a pawn for the use they are put to."
"...right, then that's a no." Tom grinned. "Nothing to be sorry for, Ix. Which I suppose means it's a good that by that sentence construction, you're technically not sorry at all."
"It's just—I have a tendency to upset people when I don't mean to," she said nervously, "so I'd rather not accidentally get off on the wrong foot with you, too. You know?"
"Believe it or not... I can get that."
Ix rubbed the back of her neck and coughed awkwardly. "So... um... enjoying the... party so far?"
Sophie List flushed as red as the wig she was wearing. "That's not what I was suggesting!" she said.
"Lust objects are nothing to be ashamed of. But I'm not going to dress up as yours." Theo uncrossed his arms with a sigh. "But I will dress up, if it will make you stop pestering me." He turned to his closet and shuffled through it, finally pulling out a dark green cloak. Mud cracked and fell off the hem as he put it on over his white T-shirt and blue jeans. "I'm a Ranger. Happy?"
"Have you ever washed that?" Sophie asked accusingly.
"No. It's authentic. Come on, or we'll be late." Theo opened the door to their RC and walked out, Sophie following behind him.
"Your hair is still up," she pointed out. Theo pulled the hairband out of his hair and looped it on his left wrist, letting the pony tail fall across his shoulders. "I can see your tennis shoes," Sophie added, still critical.
"Then don't look," Theo said.
"They're bright red; I can hardly help but look," Sophie said.
"You're wearing a black turtleneck and black jeans with a Black Widow patch safety pinned to your belt," Theo said.
"But at least they're all the right color!" Sophie said.
The argument got them to the party fairly quickly. Sophie grinned as she looked across the room, taking in others who had arrived and finally seeing the refreshment table, which she made for immediately, abandoning her argument and her partner at the door.
...and went straight for the hamantaschen.
"No, I'm serious," Dawn McKenna said. She was dressed as the Eleventh Doctor, and had been frequently playing with her bowtie, playing with her fez, and gleefully telling her former partner to "Come along, Pond!" since putting the costume on. "Last year I got all of two poppy seed ones. Only the apricot was left by the end, and I didn't want to make some myself, so that was that. It was sad."
"It disappointed you," T'Zar corrected. She moved surprisingly easily in the short skirt and heeled boots: it was the ginger wig that she occasionally scratched at or pushed carefully out of her face.
"Well, yeah," Dawn said. "That's what I meant, Pond." She grinned. "This is so much fun!"
"Better than being Thor last year?" Abaddon asked. In keeping with his frequent Time Lord theme (and, of course, with his friends), he'd come dressed as the Doctor as well. The Thirteenth, specifically.
Dawn shrugged. "Nah, just different. Ooh, chocolate-poppy seed! How have I never seen that before? And--wait, is that...is that halvah?"
T'Zar picked one up immediately, smelling it briefly before she took a bite. "It is. It is also...quite pleasant to the taste."
"Because you like the stuff," Abaddon pointed out. His words aside, he took two and ate them in short order. "Not bad!" Continuing down the table to snag a napkin for T'Zar, he managed to bump into someone. "Oh! So sorry..."
--
Hamantaschen are triangular cookies with every filling you could ever think of, by now. Halvah is sweetened, flaky sesame seed paste, and can be a bit of an acquired taste for some. It also comes in many varieties by now.
((So I had to look up a recipe. :P))
((Did you make it? If so, how'd they come out? What filling did you use?
~Z))
((I have most of the ingredients, but I need to run to the store first and pick up some other things. The recipe I found called for either poppy seed or apricot, so probably one of those!))
Sophie looked up as the group approached. She'd been trying to decide which hamantaschen to start with -- they all looked and smelled very good. At the sight of potential cookie competition approaching she quickly grabbed one in each hand, just to be safe.
"Hey!" she said. "Nice wig. Not-actually-redheads unite! Heh. Don't think I've met you guys. I'm Sophie!" She held out a hand and then realized that it was full of food, so she stuffed the cookie into her mouth to free it up. "Mmmph!" she said, not caring that it was rude to talk with her mouth full. "Dif if good! Nefer had it before."
"I recommend poppy seed or chocolate, personally. Or non-apricot jam. Or--" She stopped, staring. "Am I seeing things, or did someone read that BuzzFeed article and actually go for it? Because that looks like the funfetti thingies, and red velvet, and something savory that I can't really identify from here. That's wild."
"This is Dawn McKenna of the DMS," T'Zar put in patiently. "This is one of her home culture's holidays. I am T'Zar, and my partner is called Abaddon. We work in DOGA."
Abaddon waved. Dawn looked sheepish.
"I've never seen half these hamantaschen in real life before," she said. "It's pretty distracting."
--
The BuzzFeed article in question. Sorry for the delay in response. Also, I have never made or eaten most of these, but the photos went over really well when I printed them out and showed them to a class of six-year-olds! I also linked to it in a previous Purim RP's opening post, possibly that of 2016...so if anyone recognizes it and wouldn't have found it on their own, mystery solved :)
Without the food in her mouth, it was much easier for her to grin widely, partly out of excitement over the cookies and partly out of excitement over T'Zar's words. "You work in DOGA?" she said. "I want to work in DOGA! I'm in the DMS now, but as soon as I can I'm going to request a transfer. Tell me about a mission! Have you ever had to deal with a whole mountain range?"
As she stopped talking, she realized she had completely ignored Dawn and Abaddon. "Sorry," she said, waving awkwardly. "It's nice to meet you guys. I think it's a taco hamantas- haman-" She trailed off awkwardly. "Cookie," she finally finished. "Or at least hamburger." Her eyes strayed back to T'Zar, waiting for her response.
"...I did once eliminate an uncanonical planetary system, which was significantly larger. My partner and I used a Sun Crusher."
"I am *not* eating a hamantasch with meat in it," Dawn said quietly to Abaddon. "Not a chance."
"You don't eat meat to begin with," Abaddon pointed out. He picked one up a little gingerly, and stared at it for a bit before finally taking a bite. "...this isn't bad. You ought to try the sushi version."
"Ooh, they made those?" Abaddon pointed to them. "I don't even care they're not cookies--I'm off." She waved to Sophie, adding a quick "Nice meeting you!" before walking quickly away towards the right table.
--
((I'm so sorry for my general lack of quick replies on this thread. I'm normally better about it, but this year...not as much, somehow. It's nothing to do with you, and I apologise for any frustration it may have caused. ~Z))
As she plugged in her headphones and started up Google Docs, Twistey recalled the high likelihood of disastrous consequences occurring if she'd joined the fun last year. Bull in a china shop, indeed. Over that year, she'd developed a trick of channeling a terrible concept in a hidden way, resulting in something that was not offensive, just vaguely menacing. That was the reason why she could give away the character her thoughts had turned into, because it had been generic to the point of looking like it was related to something else entirely. Which reminded her, she needed to give it away.
But that didn't matter now. The Purim party hadn't even happened, and so no harm was done. Now it had rolled around again, and she was quite prepared this time. She knew some of her agents-to-be were going to go, and she wanted to surprise them a little. But still, she knew she had to keep incognito. Zingenmir's rules.
Twistey couldn't work without music, so she looked through YouTube to see what its suggestions were. Mostly Animusic. She'd gotten back into that a while ago, having loved its music and animation since childhood. Seeing one video, she remembered something she would love to do. "Aha", she thought, dialed up one of the pre-agents who had decided not to go, and began to write her costume into reality.
-------
"Hello! Listen, I finally found a costume for you that you might be able to go in. ...No, you do not have things to do, you're a semi-fic blip and you're not an agent yet. ...There's social anxiety and there's isolating yourself from everyone because you don't feel you're normal. Agents are an interesting bunch, there's a lot of them who don't know their parents either. ...Yes. And about the costume, no one has to see your face, hear your voice, or anything like that. I know right, it's great! ...We'll communicate with written signs, gestures, and music. First thing we'll do is ask the host if we can DJ, so it can be that we won't even have to interact with anyone. Okay, you're in? Sweet! Put your hair in a wig cap and get a binder if you have one. I have some really cool wearable electronics for us. See ya at my place. Goodbye."
-------
Amber Callahan, no relation to Kitty or any other agent with that last name, was peppering an agent with questions about HQ. When did a typical day start? What tools would she be equipped with for missions? What kind of person could she expect for a partner? The nature of HQ time, the severe underequippedness, and all that only made her more excited. Amber had always had a thirst for adventure. This seemed to worry the agent to no end, but despite the look in their eyes, they smiled and nodded, then continued answering in an even tone of voice.
The Callahan siblings (Erika, Amber, and Connor, from oldest to youngest) had collectively decided to go as characters who wouldn't require masks, excessive face paint, or wigs that were a different color than their actual hair, just so that the crowd could get to know what they actually looked like. Connor was immediately recognizable as Ron Weasley, though he'd remarked that he was "too quiet for the part." Erika had reused a formidable cosplay of Moira from Overwatch that she had saved up to buy, and it looked like she was getting more in character as she got more comfortable. While Moira isn't really a costume one can ruin Purim with, the younger Callahans would have to keep her in check. Amber herself wore the magnificent blue-and-yellow dress of Mrs. Whatsit from the new "A Wrinkle in Time" movie. Amber's best friend Miriam had helped her with her makeup and other such things - too bad Miriam hadn't been able to come. Oh well - Amber had her phone with her, and she could send Miriam all the photos of great cosplay that she could handle.
Just then, Amber heard a loud sound coming from the entrance. Specifically, a series of notes played on a higher and lower synthesizer. She spun to face the direction the musical noise had come from. Two gleaming, futuristic robots, their fronts covered in large pentagonal buttons that she assumed made the music, glided into the room together and made their way towards the host. Things just got more interesting.
-------
The blue Starship Groove robot, presumably male, pulled out a sign reading "Can we DJ?" and showed it to the host. The red one began pressing buttons with one hand and gesturing with the other, first pointing to "her"self, and then making a motion that resembled scratching a disk on a turntable. They waited for a reply.
-Twistey
(Here's a reference for Twistey and the reluctant pre-agent's costumes):
(Yeah, I realize that post didn't end in a very open way, so maybe this will help.)
-Twistey
Marina said as she entered the room with her partner, looking at his masked face. "And you just had to use that Disguise again, uh?"
Richard, wearing a black coat, black clothes, red gloves and a black and white mask, grinned slightly, "You can talk. you used the same one too, and it is an even cheaper one."
Marina, who was wearing a brown trench coat, a collier with a silver pentacle, and had an engraved staff in hand, shrugged before raising her other hand to list points "Not my idea to come. That's as good as I can get without Disguise Generator like you. And finally, if he can go to a party disguised as a series B vampires, I can do this. Just be happy I'm not going here with robes and a pointy hat with stars on them. Oh, and a wand to go with them."
"But you still intend to enjoy the party too, right?"
"Well, I'm here now, so I could as well profit from that..."
a bit behind Maria and Richard.
She looked like a bipedal lion wearing Gryffindor robes. (She was a hani wearing Gryffindor robes, but they look like bipedal lions, so the distinction isn't particularly relevant.)
She stopped and looked around the room, trying to get a sense of what was going on. Then, she decided to jump right in to the socializing. She hurried to catch up to the people who'd entered in front of her and, when she got near them, said "Hi! I'm Farah!".
(( - Tomash ))
startled by the sudden noise behind them. Reacting faster, Richard flourished a little as he saluted: "Richard Legard, Phantom Thief. And here's my partner..."
"Marina," she said after a short moment. She then raised her staff slightly, "I'm a wizard," she deadpanned. "And you're... sneakier than you look like."
"It's nice to meet you both!" Farah said, holding out a hand.
"And what's a Phantom Thief?" she asked Richard. "It sounds like something my partner shouldn't find out about."
"If so, well he should take care, because someone could just steal them, forcing him to confess any ill they could have caused. Beware of calling cards." A little took by his drama he forgot to take the offered hand.
"Search about a game called Persona 5," Marina said. "It sums it up too, without all the flourish. And seems actually good." She took a look at the hand Farah offered, "Just to be sure, you're not using a DORKS or anything technological? I tend to short these things out with my hands..."
"I'll have to look this game up." Farah said. "I'm not using any tech for the costume, so you're good, unless you'd short out the translators in our flash patches."
"And Kk'kttak would say his desires are perfectly normal. I disagree, but we're working together so I've got to put up with the species differences. Oh well."
she said before shaking Farah's hand.
"If you don't mind, what department are you from," Richard asked. "We're in the DMS. And where exactly is your partner?"
"I'm in Crossovers." Farah said. "And I don't know if my partner will be here - I told him I was going, but I wasn't sure if he was interested."
(( If you'd like Kk'kttak to show up as well, let me know. ))
- Tomash
"Well, we'll see if he is," Richard. He then took a look at the buffet, before deciding to check the different sorts of cookies present. "Anything cathing your fancy?"
Marina looked at buffet. "Tells me if you see some coffee there."
Farah said, following Richard towards the sweets. "Since it's all safe for me, last I heard, and I haven't had much of human feast food."
Charlotte, clad in a simple but elegant red gown, looped her arm through Ix’s. Her hair was now golden thanks to the disguise generator, but she otherwise looked the same as ever, her purple glasses somewhat out of place in her Princess Buttercup costume,
Ix readjusted her Dread Pirate Roberts mask and shrugged, grimacing. “Not until I feel better about showing my face in public, and we both know that’s not going to happen. Besides, admit it—I look good in this.”
Charlotte laughed and shook her head as they entered the party. “You look good in everything, hon.”