Gathering: Halloween Gala

[concierge]

A large, decorative sign situated prominantly in the lobby reads:

The Nexus Hotel
proudly presents its
ANNUAL HALLOWEEN GALA

Formal Reception
Nexus Dining Hall
6 PM - Midnight

Monster Mixer
Nexus Basement
8 PM - 2 AM

Masquerade attire recommended for all guests

Most of the chairs have been removed from the Dining Hall to allow for ballroom-style dancing to the orchestra set up on the far end of the room. A polished cherry wood open bar is aligned along one wall. The adjacent Bistro is open for the duration of the formal reception, serving gourmet hors d'oeuvres.

Downstairs, the basement's largest storeroom has been converted into a spooky nightclub, complete with DJ, dance floor and cocktails.

Comments

[trulyoracular]

There's a costume gala.

There's a costume gala and Olaf doesn't have his costume, so he pops back to Auckland and informs Mike that he has pressing business before digging the kraken costume out of Mike's basement and ignoring anything about gods and Loki and hunters and he will get back to that, he truly will, but right now there is a costume party to attend and he has a kraken costume to slip into (so to speak).

Once he's well equipped, he goes back in all his purple and multi-legged glory, incredibly proud of himself for finding it in the depths of his closet.

[malachai]

To be honest, what he was wearing wasn't much of a costume. Docs, black jeans, his black jacket and the scabbard and sword he usually wore strapped to his back when he hunted. Okay, he didn't usually let his demon horns show, or smile wide enough to show his fangs, but it was Hallowe'en and he was trying to get into the spirit of it.

That's when he saw....entirely too much purple.

"Why do I get the feeling I don't want to know?" he asked as he approached.

[trulyoracular]

Olaf spins as gracefully as he can manage when he's got multiple arms in all directions. Cautious, because he's got a beer in hand, too, and that's more precious than anything. "It's a costume gala," he says, like the costume is entirely warranted. "Besides, this is the best one I've got!"

[malachai]

"And you've most definitely risen to the occasion," NIck nodded, laughing. "I think you'll be walking away with the most colorful award at any rate. If they're giving shit like that away, that is."

[trulyoracular]

"Are there beer prizes attached to rewards?" Olaf asks, turning to look to the front of the room and likely nearly taking off someone's head by the rate at which he turns and one of his appendages goes flying. "Because I could use the help. I'm a little ... job deprived, you could say."

[malachai]

"Whoa," Nick half-laughs as he ducks a flying arm. "Might want to be careful with the flying parts there, man. You might take someone's eye out, or worse."

He frowned a little then nodded when he figured out what the guy was talking about. "What, with all the changing into old men and flopping face first in board shorts onto the floor, no one was willing to hire you for beer money?"

[trulyoracular]

"Less that and more that I'm lazy and don't particularly enjoy working when the surf's up," Olaf says, shrugging. That and he also sometimes doesn't like to work when he's hungover, drunk, or high. So, really, most of the time. "I really need to make this oracle thing into a business venture."

[malachai]

That had Nick blinking. A lot. "Wait. You're an Oracle?"

[trulyoracular]

Right, he's not supposed to be talking about that. The problem with not letting on about god business is that when you're drunk and out of your mind, it's hard to remember what you do and don't say. "Wait, am I?" he replies, not sure he'd said that out loud. Did he?

[malachai]

"I tend to focus in on pantheon stuff, so I'm pretty sure I didn't make that up," Nick snorted, "but if you'd like to pretend I didn't hear it, I can manage that."

It wasn't like he didn't keep his own secrets, who was he to fuck with someone else doing it?"

[legendthatwas]

"Nice," said Martha, looking Olaf over from head to toe. Halloween was really an American thing, in her experience, but plenty of people at the hotel seemed to be going with it. As it was, she was able to roll with it, because she'd already got a black leather catsuit (uh, don't ask), and a cape was easily purchased, along with a belt, some duct tape for modifications and a white wig.

Okay, maybe this fancy dress idea had been in the back of her mind a while with nowhere to be aired, and she was pretty sure she was getting the hang of this back and forth travelling thing.

"That's some outfit," she continued.

[trulyoracular]

Olaf's pleased with the costume and how it turned out, even if he's not entirely doing it for any other reason than he has a costume and he wants to wear it. "I'm a kraken," he explains, flipping some of his purple arms up in the air to disguise the fact that he's very much checking her out in that incredible catsuit. "I krake."

[legendthatwas]

"A kraken," Martha echoed, straightening her wig a little bit. "And what exactly does...uh...kraking consist of? I was under the impression that kraken did all sorts of dragging unsuspecting ships to their doom under the waves, is that about it?"

Honestly, at this point, Olaf could tell her that there were such a thing, that they weren't mythological, and Martha would have had a fair chance of believing it. Despite being a scientist and sceptic, travelling had taught her most myths were based on some reality, in her experience.

[trulyoracular]

"Mostly being a predator of the seas and rising up when required," Olaf says knowingly, as serious as you can be when you're wearing a giant purple costume with orange spots on it. "And you would be..." he says, taking some extra time to look at her because he can. "You would be gorgeous."

[legendthatwas]

"I never knew they were so vivid in colour." Martha was used to being vaguely flirted with by older-than-they-looked men by that point in her life, perhaps even enjoyed it a little more than she should. She grinned in response. "Thank you, Olaf--though I'm maybe a little less impressive than yourself."

[trulyoracular]

"Well, they're not all New Zealand krakens," he insists very seriously, but only because it's the best way he can get away with the purple fabric that he used. "And I'm not sure I'm impressive so much as I am large in size. I'm hard to ignore."

[legendthatwas]

"Right, okay, so Antipodean krakens are different in colour. I'll make a note of that for future reference," noted Martha, in serious tone but incredibly amused expression. "And you are hard to ignore. While still managing to be impressive."

[trulyoracular]

"I am above six foot and dressed as a wild purple kraken of the seas," Olaf admits, as sensible as he gets in a situation like this. "If you did miss me, I might start worrying about your field of vision and for such a rrwowr catwoman like you, I'd hate for those gorgeous eyes to fail."

[legendthatwas]

"Storm," said Martha, "not Catwoman, I'm afraid. But comics, that's close enough..." She got the impression that Olaf didn't really pay attention to that kind of thing, which was fine. Some people didn't. And it was a catsuit, after all.

She also was trying to hide her biting her lip and smiling at the flattery.

[kuno_ichi]

Olaf was impossible to miss in the crowd, his giant purple head and arms swaying above (and occasionally into the faces of) the people milling around him. April made a beeline for him, grinning all the way.

"Did you make that yourself?" she asked on approach, taking the opportunity to fully take in the craftsmanship. She felt boring standing beside him in her Katniss costume, her bow the only truly unusual thing about her ensemble.

[trulyoracular]

"Do you like it?" Olaf brags, flopping some of the arms around as he turns and gives April a pleased look at how very well he's always pulled this one off. He's a bit wary of her costume, an unwelcome chill in his blood. "You're a hunter," he says, some of the goodwill gone.

[kuno_ichi]

Mouth open to reply, April hesitated at the shift in Olaf's tone. She looked quickly down to her costume and then back up again.

"Not really? I'm Katniss Everdeen, from the Hunger Games," she explained. "I guess she hunts squirrels and things, but that's just so her family can eat."

[trulyoracular]

It's the braid, he thinks. Natalie had a braid like that, but she also had strict morals, a divine sense of justice, and a crossbow. April is definitely lacking some of that. It's like a switch has suddenly gone off and suddenly Olaf is back to being his normal, cheerful self. "Well, in that case, if I ever need a good squirrel recipe, I'll keep you and her in mind."

[kuno_ichi]

"Her more than me," April replied, relieved that whatever hiccup her costume had caused was apparently past. "I don't think I could stand shooting a defenseless animal like that, even if I knew how to use this thing," she added with a motion of the bow strapped to her back.

"You're an octopus, right?"

[trulyoracular]

"Incorrect," Olaf says, but it's with a warm smile now that they've put their differences between them. "I'm a kraken, from old mythology. And you don't want to wake the kraken," he warns, gesturing one abnormally large sucker around for emphasis.