all_inclusive | All Hallows Haunt and All Must Have Fun

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All Hallows Haunt and All Must Have Fun

The fog had begun near the dusk hours, coating all the plants and flowers in the garden. It settled, heavy, and blanketed everything with a new cover that was only matched in mood by the graveyard that had unearthed itself from the grass and the moss. Names were etched on each gravestone, but the most unnerving part was that every few steps, if you stopped and listened very, very carefully, you might hear a knock of a human hand against hard wood. It was almost as if the dead were being called upwards.

The maze stood normal, but inside around the corners, there were things lurking and waiting.

Outside might have become frightening and gloomy, but the contrast to indoors was stark. Inside, carved pumpkins lit with candles turned the ballroom and restaurants into amber-lit abodes, costumed partygoers twirled to the music played by the band in the lobby (while the DJ had set up in the conservatory). Candy and small hors d'oeuvres circulated on the trays of immaculately clad waiters and though outside it was stormy, foggy, and spooky, inside was a delight of themed drinks, delicious food, and the manic and half-crazed mood of people in the midst of their fun.

The party for Halloween had begun.

And there was no telling when it might ever end.

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"Now I'm almost offended that you've lumped me in with all of the other guys in tight-fitting pants," he says. She's not going to get away with squirming out from under her admission. Harvey would never let that happen. He's far too egotistical for that sort of thing.

Though, he does blink and draw his head back a bit when she attacks him with chocolate. "The hell -" he sneers and tries to figure out what she's shoving into his face. One eyebrow quirked up at her forceful offering, then he leans in to curl his lips around not only the bite of chocolate, but her fingers as well. If she's going to play with the big kids...

"Well, you know... boys... sports..." Yeah, she's not very successful at cool flirtation. Whereas, Harvey seems to excel at it. And of course she betrays herself by reacting to it. She more than kind of hates that. She wishes she were cool. "You know, because of the sweating and the muscles..."

She's even less cool when he finally takes the mint chocolate from her fingers. Dawn stands there, lips parted, watching Harvey's lips once they leave her fingertips with the chocolate in his mouth. Very few moments in her life have ever rendered Dawn speechless. This is one of them. Harvey should be proud.

"Um..." She's pretty sure everyone in the room can hear her heart beating out of her chest. So much for her infamous bravado.

Harvey is frequently smooth personified. "Sweating is sexy?" he asks. Yes, he is toying with her. How will she learn otherwise?

The wicked grin that bends the corners of his mouth probably don't help her speechlessness at all. And yes, he is rather proud of this particular accomplishment. This might be the one time he wishes that ridiculous, headache-inducing power he had for a short time was still active. He might not be able to hear what she's thinking, but from the emotions he'd be getting, he'd have a pretty good idea.

"Is something wrong?" he asks her, as though there hadn't been a semi-sexual encounter just seconds ago.

Most of the time, when Dawn flirts, no one calls her on it. Harvey had just stepped up and met her halfway which was something that almost literally never ever happened. The result is Dawn freezing in place, no words coming out of her mouth, staring at Harvey's lips with their impish grin that looks too good and natural on him to be fair.

And here is where she recovers. Because of the lack of fairness.

Her eyes snap up to his and she schools her expression to be something resembling petulant and unimpressed. "So not fair, Harvey! You're... you're like a professional, or something." Wait. That sounded bad. "Not like street walker professional, but still. You have experience in making girls weak in the knees. I totally know your game and I am so unaffected." Look at how unaffected she is as she pops a chocolate into her mouth and looks away from him to the rest of the room. Not affected at all.

~~She's so affected.~~

Harvey calls people on just about everything. Especially when it might be to his advantage. Or when he just wants to have fun.

In this case, it's a little of both, plus an educational opportunity.

"You're not used to reciprocal interactions like this, are you?" he asks her, already knowing the answer. He wags a finger. "And I'll let you slide on the 'professional' thing, but only because you followed it up with a compliment. However," he says, leaning in to whisper in her ear, "you are so affected." And he doesn't even feel bad about doing it.

Dawn has absolutely no idea of what to do with Harvey when he has fun at her expense. Especially this kind of fun. On one hand, she wants to return the favor. On another hand, she wants to back away so that there's some space between them. On another hand, his breath, warm on her ear as he whispers into it, sends a ripple of something through her all the way through to her bones.

That was it. It was a bone deep kind of feeling. No, she was not used to such things being reciprocated.

Somehow she miraculously is able to school her expression to keep herself looking as cool as possible. The way her chest rises and falls with a very deep and necessary breath might betray her though. "Even if I were affected, which I'm totally not, your game is so easy to read. Like... extra large print, small words and correlating pictures, easy to read. Like Dr. Seuss easy."

Harvey has fun at everyone's expense. Usually it's not harmful to anyone (except in business... business is a whole other kettle of fish). Also, he is a shameless flirt when it suits his purposes. The flirting probably wouldn't be quite so overt if he was legitimately attempting to get her into bed. So, he'll call this slightly over-exaggerated for the sake of education.

It doesn't stop him smirking that self-satisfied smirk of his when she tries to counter him. Still leaned in nice and close, he grins against her ear and whispers, "Would you like me to be more subtle?"

It's a good thing that Dawn has no kind of business sense to speak of. Because that way she doesn't have to deal with that other kettle of fish. And on top of that, if she needs business advice, she can go straight to Harvey with it. He is her lawyer, after all. Kind of. Or, maybe she just likes the idea that she's someone who actually has a lawyer more than it actually being the truth of the matter.

Right now, he's still so close to her that her entire self is aware of him in a multitude of ways. And his question is a double-edged sword. A part of her knows she should say 'yes, be more subtle' to him and take a step backward. Another part of her doesn't want him to move away at all. She suddenly has this visual of turning her head to close the few inches necessary to steal a kiss from him. Not only would she enjoy it, but it would sure as hell stun him.

So she's caught in a quandary. Be mischievous and egg him on or be sensible and don't play into his games. It's honestly so much harder for Dawn to me sensible than it is for her to be mischievous. Her sister would want her to be sensible and not caught up in something that's just a game.

So just watch her try as she steps back, gives Harvey the most dramatic of eye rolls up to the ceiling and back down to him again. "Yes. I want that... you... I mean for you to be subtle. The subtle thing is what I want." Totally. Do you believe her yet, Harvey? She pops another chocolate in her mouth if just to shut herself up from saying anything else.

Well, he's her lawyer for about a month. Two - since she gave him ten dollars. He's doing her a favor there - his retainer is typically about 100 times that. But, he likely won't hard on it too much. If she ever has actual legal trouble and needs a lawyer, they can discuss fees and payments at that point.

He knows that she is aware of him with every inch of her being. Why does she think he's standing this close? If she stalls on that kiss too long, he'll be more surprised that she didn't do it.

That step she takes back earns the very beginnings of a wicked grin that he schools back into a sterner look. "I get it, you want me," he says flatly and leans against the wall, farther away from her than he was a moment ago, but not so far that city buses could pass between them.

That grin is too wicked and actually kind of sexy. (Damn him) Dawn's lips twist into a wry grin of her own, and she uses that grin to cover up the way his words twist and tug at her insides. Maybe just because of the words themselves, maybe because on some level she knows they're true and refuses to acknowledge it. At least she can breathe more easily with this space between them.

"Well yeah, you definitely get me into all the cool places." She plays off his words like they're nothing. "Of course I want you around. Plus... the whole easy on the eyes aspect. I see something gross and I just have to look at you and boom. Not so bad."

Leaning against the wall, he's casual and relaxed. Nothing about him looks any different than any other day - save the switch from a suit or jeans into a far more snug-fitting baseball uniform.

He listens to her trying to convince - someone - that she's not into him and he's not affecting her at all. He's not picking up what she's putting down here. "So, I'm better than 'gross'." He shakes his head. "How long are you going to keep lying to yourself?" He glances at his arm where a watch would be on a normal day. "Because me, I've got all night to wait you out."

It isn't fair that Harvey looks so casual and relaxed when Dawn is a bubbling cauldron of awkward playing at being casual and relaxed. At least she looks cute in her costume. So she has that going for her. The problem is that Harvey looks even better than her. Not cool to show a girl up, Harvey. Not cool.

And of course he's pushing the issue at hand. Dawn isn't sure how long she can hold out on pretending that he's wrong. She's never been very good at being something she isn't. Usually, when she feels or thinks something it's at a hundred percent in omni-vision and technicolor and 3D. Everyone knows it. She's not sure why it seems important that she stand her ground though. Maybe to keep herself from getting hurt.

"Yeah but, I mean, is that really how you wanna spend your night? Waiting me out for an outcome that might or might not happen?" She says, offering her napkin-o-treats out to him again. "Instead, you could be trying all the sweet things, making googly eyes at sexy nurse over there or doing the time warp... again." She had to add the 'again' because it's just part of the lyrics.

Harvey's poker face is epic. He's worked very hard to look cool and calm on the outside when facing a 'situation'. He doesn't let people see him sweat.

He's not showing her up. He's just being Harvey. And since image is important to Harvey, he couldn't look bad if he tried really hard.

It's the part where she's trying to convince herself - the lying - that he's finding so interesting. He doesn't know why she's doing it - other than to prove to herself that she can. Harvey being a shameless flirt and a playboy probably isn't helping the situation at all.

"So, I'm confused, are you telling me that you're not hitting on me or that, if you are, I shouldn't be interested and should go find someone else to play with?" What? No, of course he's not trying to get her face stuck in that gob-smacked position. What would ever make anyone think that?

Oh she really doesn't like the image that brings up. Harvey finding someone else to play with. And sadly, her imagination is so great that the image is a really good one of Harvey and said naughty nurse over there. And by good, she means terrible, horrible, ugly, yuck, grossness that she needs bleach to clean out of her brain space. It's none of those things because of the participants, both of which look like they came out of some catalogue, naughty nurse out of Victoria's Secret and said baseball player out of Sports Illustrated. It's those icky things because it's Harvey with some nameless bimbo that isn't Dawn Summers.

She stands there, staring at him, rolling her bottom lip through her teeth, her look confounded complete with furrowed brow and wrinkled nose. It takes her a minute to come out of that mess. And she's proud that she does it without brain bleach.

"There might be... a little innocent flirtation..." Innocent. Yes, that makes it better. "Otherwise known throughout every Thesaurus ever as 'hitting on'." She confesses. "There. Are you happy? Cause we wouldn't want you to be unhappy. Nope. Can't have that."

He grins brightly at her. He can tell there are 'things' going through her head. By the look on her face, she isn't thrilled with most of them. Hey, he's not the one who suggested he should be off hitting on someone else - or being hit on by someone else.

"Snappy sarcasm," he comments with a nod. "I like it." She still sort of reminds him of Mike - the bright, happy puppy that only wants to see the good in the world, but will sling witty barbs at him if it's necessary.

He wags a finger. "By the way, what are you dressed as?" Because he's not sure it's something he recognizes, which is odd, he typically picks up on nearly all things pop-culture.

She can be somewhat naive sometimes. But not so much naive that she's delusional. She's seen and experienced too much horribleness to be deluded. So bright and happy are completely accurate descriptions. So is the fact that she really, desperately wants to only see the good in the world. She does enjoy a good bout of wit, whether it's a barb or a jibe or witty banter. Harvey seems to play off of that well enough, which she likes too.

"I'm dressed as Alice Liddel of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland fame." With her short poofy blue skirt, covered in fake blood, she does a curtsy (sort of) before continuing. "Only this is from one of my favorite video games by a company called American McGee. It's super dark and creepy and Alice is a bad ass who has to save Wonderland. See, when she got home after her first trip to Wonderland her family had to commit her to an asylum cause they thought she was crazy talking about this Wonderland place. But it was all real. Wonderland has gone dark and scary and they want her to come in and save it. So see?"

Her smile is too bright to go with the bloody dress and knife and what she says next. "I'm a bad ass."

Harvey and witty banter go hand-in-hand. Toss in a handful of movie quotes and that's him in a nutshell. Well, there are a few other bits - the lawyer thing and some sports things - but personality-wise - witty banter, movie quotes and stubbornness.

He nods at her explanation. "I can see that." A pause. "That you're Alice. I'm less sure on the 'bad ass' part. The big cheery smile sort of contradicts the 'bad ass'."

"Now, pleasantries out of the way, what exactly were you doing? When I walked up and scared you."

If he was looking for a way to ruffle her feathers, he did it. Hackles almost visibly raise in her demeanor. She looks at Harvey with incredulous amusement. "As if you could scare me." Truthfully, he probably could scare her. But she wouldn't admit that.

"Also, apparently you've never met actual bad asses. Some of them have the best smiles." All the bad asses she knew smiled anyway. Even some of the evil ones. But as far as the character of this version of Alice Liddel, she probably shouldn't be smiling like she was. Ah well, she never said she was an actress. Although there was that one time when everyone turned into their costumes.

She pops another chocolate into her mouth and gestures to the double doors leading outside. "I heard there was creepiness happening outside. I was thinking about doing some scooby work and investigating."

He grins. "Oh, I scared you," he says. He's certain of it, though, he's not rubbing it in her face quite as much as he could. He isn't always a ginormous ass.

A slow-ish blink. He waves a hand back and forth, indicating himself. "I am a badass." In case she couldn't tell. And he's not meaning the baseball uniform.

"Well, I would offer to go with you, but since you don't think I'm bad... wait - 'scooby'?" At some point his brain will catch up with the things she says before several weird seconds pass. Either that, or she'll start to speak English and he won't have to attempt the world's strangest simultaneous translation before responding to things she says.

"Can't we both be bad asses? Isn't there enough bad assery to go around?" See how she didn't even question whether he was talking about himself or the baseball costume? Yeah, she already knows Harvey is a bad ass at his lawyering. He just puts off that vibe. And Dawn's met enough bad asses to know one when she's spent any amount of time with one.

English is for normal people. Dawn and Buffy and their little group had always had their own vocabulary. Honestly, Dawn is impressed that Harvey keeps up as much as he does. "Yeah, that's what we used to call the people who helped by sister with her whole one girl in all the world gig. As a joke. Scoobies. You know, like scooby doo. Solving mysteries and fighting crime? Minus the supernatural part that we have to deal with."

The face he makes says something like 'What? No.' "There really is only so much room in the badass column. You may have to wait for a badass to die or become un-badass to move over." He's so full of shit it isn't funny. Or maybe it is funny.

"Wasn't there a supernatural part to Scooby Doo mysteries? At least, enough that they used 'ghost' as an explanation fairly often before they solved the real mystery?" What? He watches TV. And watched plenty of it as a kid. He wasn't always a rich, smarmy badass.

"Whatever. I shove my way into that column and make room. Sometimes a girl's gotta fight for what she wants." She's enjoying the full of shit that Harvey is too. Dawn leans in as if to conspire with him. "I might not look like it, but I can be pretty scrappy when I need to be. Plus I'm really good with a crossbow."

She's just gonna look at him, highly amused that he ever watched Scooby Doo. "Let me guess, you watched Transformers too. Oh! And that X-Men cartoon."

He grins at her, without saying a word. Her answer is exactly what it should be. If you're not where you want to be, do what you have to do to get there. Even if that means pushing other people out of your way.

He arches an eyebrow at 'scrappy'. "So you're the annoying sidekick that's really too young to play with the big kids?" Teasing, who Harvey? No way.

As for her queries about the television he watched as a child, he doesn't dignify that with a response. Surely she's figured out by now that he's well-versed in popular culture.

"Well, annoying is right but I'm more like the sidekick to the sidekicks. You know, cause I have a life outside of being a super hero." She was trying to get a college degree, after all. Or she had been back home. Unfortunately as the supernatural continued to interrupt her education, she was precariously close to losing all scholarships. Her grades were the only thing keeping her in. Dawn was far more intelligent than she usually let on.

"But when I wanna be, I am so one of the big kids. Sometimes I even drive the getaway car." She adds with a hint of amusement. Because while it's true, and while driving the getaway car isn't usually a part of what the big kids do, Dawn does it and also gets in the middle of the fray.

"When did you become a superhero?" he asks. He doesn't remember that coming up in conversation. She'd mention that her sister saves the world, but not that any of them were actually 'superheroes'.

He gives her an almost amused look. "You drive the car? What about your sister? Or her friends?"

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