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

[quickfingers]

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.]

Comments

[hondoyota]

[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.

[fehus]

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]

[hondoyota]

[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.

[fehus]

[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.

[hondoyota]

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.

[fehus]

[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.

[hondoyota]

[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.]

[fehus]

[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]

[hondoyota]

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

Take care.

[fehus]

[Magnus pauses at the door, looking back]

No, dude. Am I gonna see you around?

[it's up to Adam, after all]

[hondoyota]

Um. I think it's inevitable? We travel in the same circles. There are only so many teenage imPorts and we attend the same parties.

[fehus]

[holy sif, Adam. be more thick]

[Magnus shakes his head, half-smiling. it's not a "no I am going out of my way to never see you again, blond Nordic demon, thief of my happiness" he supposes, which is enough to go by, for now]

Forget it. Um, later.

[and Magnus lets himself back into the party, a burst of Cyndi Lauper coming from inside the house]