all_inclusive | 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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"Oh I'm aware. I'm not usually the hurting people type." Which is true in a sense. Even though her very existence is about chaos and destruction. Dawn, the mortal, is usually very perceptive and aware of how her actions affect other people. Honestly, with Kenny, she had panicked and ended up causing all of that destruction herself. She did have the decency to feel guilty about it though.

Hindsight was always twenty-twenty.

She didn't miss that Harvey had been affected by the tale. But she tried to look past that and hope he didn't judge her too terribly bad. She would ask why he was affected. But she didn't want to dwell on things that made her look really bad to Harvey, as she could tell her one indiscretion did.

"My style?" She asks, her lips twisting into a wry grin. "Pshh... I don't know. It's... I want to have fun. But... I want the fun to go somewhere too. You know? I want it to be like a romantic comedy. Imperfect and terrifying and hilarious and tumultuous and... you never know what's coming next but hopefully it isn't angst cause... I've seem way too much of that. And now I'm rambling."

She looks to Harvey. "What's your style?"

If he thought she was the 'hurting people type', he wouldn't still be sitting here talking to her. He would've walked away long long ago. And hindsight has an annoying way of being right a lot.

People make mistakes. Even Harvey (even if he probably wouldn't admit it without a really good reason). Teenagers tend to make a few more than the average bear. He knows this. So, he's likely to be a bit more forgiving than he might otherwise be.

He looks at her. "So, you're less into the casual sex for fun and more into sex that means something?" He nods. "I get that." It's not how he operates, but he gets it.

"Yeah, more or less. That's the truth." The problem was that while that was true, Dawn was a very emotion-fueled creature to the point of being led by those emotions. Her emotions were wild and chaotic. Giles had once told her it was because it was her nature. The Key, to bring chaos to the world. If Giles said it, it had to be right.

"But..." She looks over to Harvey. If it was honesty time, and he wasn't judging her or making her feel stupid, she was going to tell him the truth. "I liked your kiss. I kind of wanna do it again sometime. And even though you're sometimes an ass, I like you too. Too, as in not just your kisses but you as a person."

How the two of them manage to get along is anyone's guess. Harvey avoids emotions - having them anyway; and Dawn is pretty much nothing but emotions; yet, somehow, he hasn't walked away. Maybe he considers her a challenge of some kind.

Is she sure that's where she wanted to go with that? She's seen his self-satisfied smirk before, but now she'll be treated to the 'I so WIN' version. He really is an egotistical ass. He nods at her. "I know," he says. And not only to the clarification of the 'like' situation, but in general to everything she's just said.

From Dawn's end of things, it was an issue of opposites attract. She had the same sort of crush on Harvey that she'd once had on Spike, someone she shouldn't like but did, maybe a man of questionable morals. The bad boy. Even though Spike had been a lot more on the side of 'bad' back then than Harvey was... as far as she could tell. It was just a certain vibe he put off. Dawn was attracted to that vibe. And she really had no idea what to do with that attraction aside from continue to hang out with him.

Incidentally, she liked hanging out with him. Even when he infuriated her.

Like now. That 'I know' is so smug she could smack him. But it's also so cocky that it's the very reason she likes him. She could only ever wish to come off as cocky and self-assured as he does. And he makes it look effortless. She rolls her eyes in a most dramatic fashion. "Of course you know, all knowing Harvey. Of course you do."

Harvey would argue with anyone who questioned his morals. He would argue less about being dubbed a 'bad boy' though.

If one were to ask, Harvey would not likely admit that he wasn't opposed to hanging out with Dawn.

He frowns. "I've never been accused of omniscience before, so that's new." He grins again, less smarmy this time. "So, is this all you're going to do all night? Stuff your face with candy and talk about not having sex with me?"

Dawn smirks. "Stick with me. I'll just keep throwing new stuff your way."

"Pretty much. I guess I'm kind of boring, huh." But to be fair, Harvey had convinced her not to go outside looking for trouble. So boring might be his fault too. Not just hers.

"I don't doubt that for a minute." Magic disappearing girls and girls who used to be some mystical energy thing - he's sure there will be more.

He gives her a brief frown. "Did I say you were boring?" He doesn't remember saying that. Or thinking that.

"I guess not." He hadn't said it. But why would a guy like Harvey want to sit and eat candy with her. Maybe he just liked hearing her say how pretty he is. But she was done with that, for now.

"So are you gonna hang out?" She asks.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" he asks, digging into the basket of candy for something chocolate. "I can leave if you'd rather I not stay." If he wasn't interested, he'd've already gotten up to leave.

"No... no I like you here." Blunt, but true. She sets the jack-o-lantern bucket in her lap and scoots over next to him. She rests her head on his shoulder and plucks a dark chocolate and coconut bar out of the bucket to hold out to him.

"Coconut?" She hums a few notes of this song, a smile playing on her lips.

He arches an eyebrow and studies her. Even Scottie doesn't lean on him.

He waves a finger in a circle between his shoulder and her head. "What is this?" he asks, tone far more gentle than it might seem. He's not objecting.

"It's me hanging out with you." She says, without lifting her head. The 'duh' after it is left implied rather than spoken. She's still offering him the chocolate with the coconut in it.

"Sitting on a couch eating candy is your version of 'hanging out'?" he asks.

"Tonight it is." She says with a shrug, unwrapping the chocolate covered coconut candy and eating it herself since he didn't seem interested. "Tomorrow it might be different."

She tosses the wrapper to the side onto a growing pile of empty wrappers. "Tomorrow I might find a beach and work on my tan." Which is hilarious given her pale, porcelain skin. She does not tan. She burns.

"Tomorrow is another day? That's very Gone With the Wind of you," he says and flicks a bit of her hair away from his face.

All Hallows Haunt and All Must Have Fun

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