MASQUERADE PARTY, 33 Apocalypse Ave, Friday Evening

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Party night. The best of nights. An ornate sign on 33 Apocalypse’s door invited all to knock and make themselves known.

The space inside was bigger than it looked from the outside, stretched and displaced by magic. The wallpaper was green and textured, hinting at the English countryside. On one side of the room sat a significant bar offering food and drinks, while the other gave ample space to sit. A large Jenga tower held prominence in a corner.

It was easy to miss it, though, in favor of the little streams of water that ran across furniture and floor. Tiny glass gondolas, animated by magic, made their way back and forth across each stream. The gondolas were real, though the water itself was an illusion. It called attention to the ceiling, doubly enchanted: both to draw all cigarette smoke to itself so it wouldn’t blow in anyone’s face, but also to mimic the starry sky above Venice.

You could watch the stars twinkle, or see the occasional cloud go by. Magical fireflies added to the illusion, dancing through the air like tiny lights. If you listened closely, you could hear the sea rolling in across an invisible beach. Even the air smelled faintly of it: the sea, warm food and good wine.

Welcome to Eliot and Margo’s pad, people. They’d make damn sure you had a good time.

[ocd up, come party!]

Comments

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Oh honey. There was a time to go basic black dress, and this wasn’t it. “Hi there,” Margo said, party hostess smile all over her face. “Glad you could make it. You wanna little sparkle magic on that outfit on the house? ’Cause El and I are showing off tonight.”

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

It had sparkles on the back! And its very high neckline!

But, having met Eliot and played show-me-yours-I'll-show-you-mine yesterday, Annie couldn't help but be intrigued by the prospect of further sparkles. "You know, I do love a sparkle," she admitted with a slightly shy smile. "I'm Annie, hi. You must be Margo -- I've already met your other half."

Annie was, perhaps, under the mistaken impression that the hosts were a couple.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

They were platonic soulmates with occasional benefits, Margo didn’t care enough to correct her. “High Queen Margo the Destroyer, nice to meet you,” she agreed, smiling. “Okay, hold on. . .”

She brought her fingers together to start firing off the spell she’d saved for just this occasion.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

Okay, the Destroyer had a nice ring to it, and Annie couldn't help thinking that Queen Maeve could rock an honorific like that. (Annie, meanwhile, was probably more of a 'Starlight the Way Too Nice.')

"The finger thing is cool," she told Margo, holding her arms out at her sides a little and looking down at herself in curiosity. "Eliot showed me some magic yesterday."

It kind of looked like it would produce cool shadow puppets?

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Margo’d react to that in a second, when she was done focusing.

“This is gonna wear off by tomorrow morning, ‘kay?” she said, and drew her hands down, tracing the contours of Annie’s dress in the air.

Actual golden sparkles formed around the edges of the fabric, the hem of her skirt and the curve of her dress, not unlike the fireflies in the air but smaller. The sparkly things almost seemed to dance a little bit.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Awesome," Annie breathed in awe, shifting a little to make her skirt move in response. "I love how delicate your magic is. This is so pretty."

While Annie had her own ways of sparkling, it was overall a much blunter and more obvious effect.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“I’m only delicate when I want to be,” Margo promised her dryly. “Makes it easier for ’em to miss you coming right at them. Eliot went flashy?”

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, he made, like, electricity between his hands," Annie explained. "I'm a superhero -- I channel power into light -- and we were kinda showing off at each other in the Perk."

In a safe way! Annie had been in Fandom for a year, now, and was pretty aware of the limitations of the power grid by now.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“He likes that one,” Margo said, nodding. “It freaks out the normies.” She studied Annie thoughtfully. “Phosphoromancy, huh?”

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He said that, too. I guess?" Annie acknowledged, nodding. She held out both hands, her eyes lighting up gold behind her mask as her palms glowed rosily from within in demonstration. She carefully drew power from her own phone so as not to disrupt anything going on with the party, and, like, maybe she should get magic help being this sparkly full-time, since her glow probably paired well with the sparkles. "It's not as pretty as what you guys do. Or as, like, extensive, from what Eliot was saying."

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“We had a friend who specialized in that, until she lost her goddamn mind,” Margo said absently, and fell silent as she studied that glow. “Seems useful, though,” she said.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Mostly in a destructive way," Annie replied, letting her glow fade. "Which, like, considering I'm talking to the Destroyer, probably isn't the worst thing. If someone crashes and the party goes south, I make a better bouncer than I look like."

She was teasing, though she was serious about being a great bouncer. (Though she was also a little concerned about their friend with light magic who had lost her mind, yikes.)

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

Margo’s relationship with Alice had been complicated (what with her and Eliot sleeping with Alice’s boyfriend and all) before Alice was consumed by magic, turned into a monster, and got dragged screaming back to herself by Quentin. Kinda put her in a thoughtful mood, bringing Alice up.

“I’m going to remember that,” she told Annie. “I mean, I can handle myself, but you never know when you’re gonna need more firepower.”

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, I'm sure you can," Annie assured her, holding up a hand in case she'd offended her. "Believe me -- anyone who can pull off this kind of shit is obviously a force to be reckoned with. I know someone who threw a magic pool party in the apartment across from mine last year, and she also doesn't really need the backup, you know? But it's there, all the same."

And for the record, Annie would be profoundly jealous of what Alice could do with light. At least, before the whole -- you know. Monster thing.

Re: Arrive and Say Hi

[not_a_goddamn_princess]

“Yeah, I know, I’m trying to say ‘thanks’ for offering it,” Margo rasped, unsure if she felt impatient or amused here. “Magicians who think they can fix everything with magic just get themselves killed.”