maskormenacelogs | october: free for all | ❝ lurking in the shadows ❞

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october: free for all | ❝ lurking in the shadows ❞

WHO: EVERYONE? Anyone. (And Peter.)
WHERE: X-Fam House, Nonah.
WHEN: Friday the 13th!
WHAT: Giant ass Halloween party. On Friday the 13th. YOU ARE ALL INVITED.
WARNINGS: tbd, probably some disaster.
NOTES: So this party's invites are pretty scattered so if you have CR with Peter, you can feel free to assume you've been invited (if he hasn't literally ic inboxed you) or found an invite/ heard about the party from anyone else and are still welcome to have fun! Feel free to plurk me (

valleyheart) if you have questions but aside from Peter's top level, it's free game to do what you want!

The Invitations

[If you're a friend of Peter you might've been invited personally, but even so you might find one of these bad boys slipped your way, in your mail or taped to the inside of your next pizza order leading up to the 13th. On the back of the invitation is a hand scrawled address in Nonah, the home of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr - if you're familiar, you're familiar. If not, doesn't matter, 'cause it's Peter's disastrous party about to go down and you're still welcome.]

The House

[The party takes place at the "X-Fam" house in Nonah, which some of you may remember hosted a bbq not too long ago. Yeah, the place where Erik and Charles live - not that this party's sponsored by them in any shape, way or form. In fact it's more of a "while the cat's away, the mice will play" type scenario because asking permission to hold a killer party is not something Peter did.

He was responsible enough however to use caution tape to cross off the doors of the bedrooms in the house, preserving the privacy of his housemates to a degree. The other rooms aren't off limits and neither is the backyard, all of which are decorated festively for the occasion. Cobwebs litter corners and hallways, weaving through the banister rails complete with fake spiders nestled in them. The curtains are somber, as a variety of stick on decals are covering windows and mirrors alike. Decorations sit on mantles and door frames, with each window sill featuring a lit candle or something equally spooky.

The backyard is lit by dim orange lights, featuring seating and open night air for those who wish to get out of a hot, loud house and admire the stars. Just mind the witch legs and don't litter cigarette butts everywhere, alright?

The door's open and a variety of tunes are playing, audible from the street.]

The Party

[So you were invited (or not,) and you found your way to the right house. The lights are dimmed and the music's loud, so come in and get a drink from the fridge or the creative yet nerdy 'keg'. Peter's no Martha Stewart nor is Wanda really in a mood to make a lot of cute treats so you'll have to put up with standard party fair: potato chips, pretzels, a huge stack of pizzas and a few large bowls of candy corn. That shit is everywhere, there's no escaping it. You need ice? Just don't choke on the critters.

Rooms not cordoned off are yours to wander and get wasted in, same with the stretch of grass in the back yard. Wander with your goblets of definitely spiked punch and a handful of candy corn. Because if you're not eating it then you suck.

At some point there will be a cake pulled out because Peter's drowning in sisters and Lorna's birthday is this month. Clearly the thing to do is to (monster) mash it in to the Halloween celebrations with a creepy cake. Say a spooky happy birthday to the girl with green hair when you get the chance.]

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[Adam's lips twitch as he realizes that Magnus doesn't have a clue. Pulling out his phone, Adam sets the camera to selfie mode and then shows the screen to Magnus. Instant mirror.]

Trifold ass of the norns --

[the dumb Nordic expletive bursts from him, and all the serious teen drama between him and Adam pops like a soap bubble. he's incredibly embarrassed? he's been walking around the party like this since -- gods, they danced, probably? shitting shit]

[cheeks turning the same colour as the lipstick, he rubs at his face, really making a worse mess of things, but -- well, he's never had to deal with lipstick marks before, and that much is very obvious]

[he manages to stutter out]

-- I guess, they are now... gods...

Hey.

[Adam reaches out and catches Magnus' wrist before he can smudge them much more. His grip is very, very gentle, meant only to calm, not to restrain.]

Leave them. Are they from Alex? You should wear them with pride.

[he's already startled enough that the unwanted touch doesn't startle him more -- but he remains a deep scarlet]

[that was what Alex had worried about, while they weren't telling anyone they were dating -- that he was embarrassed of her (then him). but he's not ashamed of Alex, ever, or to be dating him, regardless of what gender or inappropriate sweater she was wearing that day. he likes every version of her (and most of the hilarious sweaters, too). at the same time, he's -- awkward, stupid, and covered in lipstick. wasn't that begging for comment? but -- so what if it did, right?]

[Adam's right; he should wear them with pride]

-- I am proud. [a pause] But it's still kind of embarrassing? [because he's also, well, a teen in his first relationship] I know nobody in the Meadows actually feels that emotion, but it's like, when you slip and fall on your ass in the snow in front of your crush? Except in this case my crush's mouth slipped on my face in front of the whole school. Um.

[this sure is a conversation he's having with Adam]

Edited 2017-10-16 02:02 (UTC)

I think it's sweet.

[Adam lets go of him as soon as the frantic rubbing slows. If Magnus wants to clear the marks, that's his business, but Adam wants to make sure that's a choice he makes, not just a panic instinct.]

No one's going to think anything of it, especially not at a party, except for that it's clear your girlfriend likes you.

[Adam simply makes this assumption, because what else is he supposed to think? He's barely met Alex. They just live at the Meadows and they clearly are very close and they care a lot about each other, obviously in a romantic sense. Everything Adam's seen is a clear indication of the two of them dating.]

[it's -- among the first handful of times someone has used that word to describe Alex's relationship to him, and his heart goes a bit wild at the reminder. Alex is his girlfriend, sometimes boyfriend, which is the most wonderful, overwhelming, insane thing, and which is in part why he's out here instead of in the party. after being so thoroughly smooched, dancing cheek to cheek with his undead bride, he had to get a breather before his chest exploded from the happiness of it]

[what is slightly easier to focus on, out of all this, is that Adam is being -- Adam is being... nice to him. in Magnus' estimation, he's usually, at best, avoidant and neutral and at worst, various shades of condescendingly passive aggressive (or just aggressive)]

[Magnus stops wiping his face, for now]

Um. Thanks, I think. [for thinking it's sweet; for the reassurance that it's not going to Become a Thing] -- This is honestly like, my second or third cool teen party, so. I'm still learning the ropes.

[they probably just call them parties, and not Cool Teen Parties, Magnus]

It's my third.

[Adam offers his knuckles in a gesture of peace. It is Adam's highest sacred gesture, of truce and friendship.

He's pleased that he manages to give the impression of being confident and knowledgeable, but the truth is that he's as much of a nerd and as much out of place as Magnus is here.]

[Magnus looks down at it -- stupidly -- and sets his discomfort aside. it's just a knuckle bump, which he does, feeling uncertain. he voices this with a hesitant;]

Woohoo, social misfits...?

[which no, he didn't expect about Adam. where Magnus has a weakness, he typically shines a light on it, makes a joke before the joke can be made about him; he has yet to really see any weakness, from Adam, apart from The Obvious (Ronan)]

Peter's a really good friend. So this one's not as -- much, I guess, as the others have been.

The other ones being Riverdales? They do tend to get a little intense.

[That intensity is a little easier for Adam to deal with, somehow.]

You can always take refuge with us, if it helps, though I get that we're our own brand of intense.

["Riverdales" is kind of a quaint word. he supposes he thinks of them more as the Football Bros, since he doesn't know Cheryl, only just recently met Betty]

[intensity aside (since much of it was within the group and therefore not Magnus' business, strictly, outside of caring for his friends), the extension of refuge is a little suspect. he's aware that if Adam wanted, he could get Ronan to kick him and Alex out of their woods and off of their land as easy as breathing. it's a tenuous position to be in, and while he and Alex are making plans, they'd prefer to stay put for at least another month or so, getting shit in order]

-- Me and Alex have been talking about making our own refuge. We don't like being dependent, I guess.

[clearly, since they live in the woods and wash their hair in magic streams, instead of coming into the house to sleep and wash like normal people. grey eyes flicker up to meet Adam's]

We'll be out of your hair before it starts snowing.

[Adam nods once in acceptance of that.]

I respect that. I just meant you could hide in the same corner as us at parties.

I know what it feels like. The need to do things on your own terms, without anyone else's charity.

Good luck.

[oh. Magnus feels a little stupid, leaping to conclusions -- maybe he just spends a lot of time thinking about homes (considering, well, he hasn't had one, doesn't really have one back in his nine-worlds, either -- a hotel was not a home)]

[he looks at the oddly somber expression on Adam's face, and then asks;]

Are we -- cool? Are you okay? I'm having trouble reading you, honestly.

[Adam's being nice, extended offers of party-refuge, bumping fists with him. but Magnus is more to the point, and likes to know exactly where he stands]

Edited 2017-10-16 18:24 (UTC)

Yes and no.

[Adam shrugs, keeping his eyes down.]

My problem with you is irrational. Ronan likes you, but more important than that, I think you're good for him.

It hits me hard in my dread and guilt that I suspect I'm not good for him.

[Adam meets his eyes before he says his next line, because Adam is the sort of person who believes that if you're going to do or say terrible things, you should acknowledge them.]

And yet I'd probably break him sooner than I'd let him go.

I have a problem with you because you make me aware of my faults to a very uncomfortable degree.

[Magnus listens, and -- isn't wholly surprised, because some of this is what Adam has said to him before. this time, though, he isn't caught up in his own internal drama about being controlled or sexuality angst -- still unresolved, but placed definitively on the backburner, in favour of being obsessively in love with Alex Fierro -- and so hears Adam with a slightly more empathetic ear]

[he can't say he thinks Adam and Ronan are healthy. but he also knows their bond is physical as much as mental and emotional; there's no changing the way Adam feels that ownership of Ronan, as uncomfortable as it makes Magnus]

I like Ronan, a lot. I want him safe, and happy, because we're friends. [he says steadily, thoughts getting in order] It'd be kind of devastating, if we had to stop being friends. I don't have a lot of people I feel so much for. [...] But I'm not from his world. I don't understand what you guys have been through, or what you're going back to.

[it's true; he can only get so close, know so much as he's told. he'd cut a hole in reality to get Ronan somewhere safe, but that was the thing about home, about inheritance -- you had to settle yourself with it eventually]

You're his home. He's not going anywhere. You'll break him on accident, holding onto him too hard. Focus on what you can do, and what you can have together -- not your faults. Trust me, I have a lot of faults, I get how this works.

You don't need to try to make me feel better. None of this is your fault or responsibility. It's my issue. I've been avoiding you because you shouldn't have to deal with my issues. I'm not getting in your way. I'll try to be as civil as I can.

I'm jealous because I think he'd probably be better off if he'd met you first, not me. There's no way to stop that particular irrational fear. Not with logic, not with action, and I'm absolutely not going to stop him from having friends just because I have irrational fears.

[Adam shrugs.] I think that's as okay as we're gonna get.

I'm not --

[trying to make you feel better. Magnus' eyebrows crease, catching blond and sparkly (the shitty dye glitter is migrating from his hair to the rest of his body, slowly, like a pestilence). he has the sensation of talking to Hearth, sometimes, or honestly? Ronan himself. stubborn people, set in their opinions about themselves and their own functions]

[Magnus, whose life has been only upheaval for nearly half a decade, doesn't really believe in stasis, like that, any longer. people either were changed, or chose to change -- he doesn't see how Adam can claim permanence, like that]

[he takes a long few moments, before responding. there's a lot of things he could say, but they all fall under either "logic" or "action," and that's not really the issue here. trust is, maybe, and Adam's own sense of worth, which for some gods damned reason he's surveying through Magnus, like he's a dead blond mirror]

-- Do you think it would help if we were friends?

[it's all he can offer, grey eyes earnest. he knows how "tolerance" works; it doesn't]

[Adam makes a laugh sound that's almost a scoff, but it isn't cruel and it isn't at Magnus. Adam's just caught off guard by Magnus' sunny demeanor. He's not used to people who are good, kind, and sunny. Magnus doesn't seem entirely real.

But the mirth fades as Adam considers the offer, and he slides down to sit on the ground.]

I don't think I can. I genuinely appreciate the offer, but I don't think I can.

For what it's worth, you don't have to be afraid of me. You have my word that I won't take any action against you or Alex. Even if you get in my way: I'll find a workaround.

[Adam takes a deep breath, and it hurts, because this is all his own issue. He's the problem here.]

I think you're good for him. I'm glad he has friends like you.

We're on the same side, does that help? We both want Ronan to be happy.

Yeah.

[and he pauses, because -- this has only just recently really occurred to him, given their slightly strained interactions from literally the get-go, but;]

I'd like it if you could be happy, too, Adam.

[and he already knows what he assumes Adam's response is going to be: maybe something along the lines of, I genuinely appreciate the offer, but I don't think I can]

[Adam smiles a little. He can't help it.]

You need to stop being so sunny and earnest, Mangnus, it's a Problem. [Yes, that was an extra N that he pronounced in Magnus' name.

He mulls it over, running his thumb over the mouth of his beer bottle in contained little circles.]

He makes me happy--they make me happy. This place... I've had so many opportunities. So much freedom. I'm someone that I never had the ability to be, back home. It would have taken me a decade or more to get where I've gotten in six months here.

We're going to the moon because of me.

[Another long pause, but it's weighty, as Adam chews over his thoughts and the things he wants to say. He wants time to process, he doesn't want to be interrupted. At last,]

No one in my life ever loved me. I'm not being hyperbolic. It's a simple fact.

Not until Ronan and Gansey, and I didn't know it until just a few months ago.

I've only had a few months to try and negate a lifetime's knowledge that I am unlovable. That's why I have a tendency to get a little... obsessive about it.

[people keep calling him that -- sunny, and he finds it a little disconcerting. it's not a word his mom would have used to describe him, it's not a word he grew up hearing. he doesn't smile nearly that much, he thinks, and it's not like he's bouncing all over the place with cheer. he wonders if what Adam means is how Alex has used the word warm, instead, which he hopes is true. he'd like to be a warm person, even if he doesn't always feel like one, inside]

[earnest, he can't refute. he's too earnest, if anything, and that seems to be a problem he and Adam share, if his next words are anything to go by. Magnus listens, and feels like for the terrifying posturing he does -- Adam is quite young. still figuring out what it means to love and be loved, still figuring out himself, and what's worthwhile about him (if there is anything). he thinks of Hearth again, middle-aged, but still weighed down with the same pain, the same questions; still young, in that way]

[Magnus thinks of Ronan saying, Adam isn't the monster here, his insistence on that fact]

You don't owe me any explanations.

[he pauses, almost leaves it at that, but adds, thinking of Alex, now]

If you can overcome feeling unlovable, I think you can overcome anything else. Including -- [he motions between them, the insecurity Adam feels, the jealousy and paranoia] -- this. This is small-time shit, in comparison, dude.

You're not as stuck in yourselves as you and Ronan think you are.

I know I don't owe you anything, [Adam says, but it's not to counter Magnus's words, it's to let Magnus know that his explanation was something he wanted to offer. In the name of something maybe vaguely resembling friendship.]

I was hoping the explanation would help.

Ronan and I are both very, very broken. All I can hope is that maybe we're better together.

You don't have to be friends with me. You should be friends with people you actually... like.

[Magnus tilts his head at that, expression open and honest, like it usually is]

Who says I wouldn't like you, if I got to know you?

[it's a gentle repetition of the offer he's made once already; no one is forcing him to be friends with Adam. he wouldn't make the offer if it weren't genuine. if they really are completely incompatible, that's that, but Magnus doubts that. he can't help but feel close to broken people, an empathy that claws down the inside of his ribcage]

I'm dead and immortal, man. I've got nothing but time to share.

[Adam offers his knuckles again. It's the best he can do, the best way he has to offer emotional truce. Adam knows how to deal with sacrifice, with denial, and with logic. Everything else can either be resolved with a fist bump or not at all.]

[unsurprisingly, Magnus is still weird about touch, the second time Adam extends his fist. Adam and he speak different languages; Magnus would rather use his hands to talk in ASL than in talk in the touch-grab-punch language of guys their age. but this time, there's less hesitation in his movements, as he briefly presses knuckles together with Adam]

[he shifts off the railing, after. offers a small, quirked smile]

Alright. I'm gonna go see if my girlfriend's got any make-up remover in her bag. Or possibly more lipstick, so I can get revenge.

See you around?

[it's more of a question than it's ever been, with Adam]

[Adam nods. He's just going to... stay here.]

Take care.

october: free for all | ❝ lurking in the shadows ❞

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