Welcome to Gaia! ::

"If you asked the waitress at the diner by my place, sure," Kess wiped her mouth with a napkin before grinning at Castille, and offering her hand across the table and a few empty plates.

"Call me Kess." She raised her brows. "Your skills of consumption are impressive, though I think I might've managed to wolf down a few more meatballs." In fact, the tall blonde could probably manage more, unlike many of the other, queasy contestants.

"I am," She laughed, thumbing over her shoulder to where Ashley sat. "There's my Jill." Pushing her empty plate further away, she tilted back in her chair, dark eyes brushing over the other girl. "And you're the lovely Miss Destiny City."

She flashed Castille a double thumbs-up. "I can dig it."

☠ Tate is doing this for all the sexy CORPSES out there! ☠

If anyone asked why she was late, she was going to tell them she'd gotten in an accident on the way over or something. Hopefully, though, no one would notice Tate sneaking in late--she certainly wasn't dressed to stand out. In fact, she'd only paid lip service at best to the idea of a zombie-themed party, with a rather gory head wound and some blood running down the side of her face, and had decided to ruin some clothes she'd picked up for ten dollars total at a thrift shop rather than touch her own. The jeans at least wore nicely, in her opinion--comfortable, worn just to the point where the denim stopped being so stiff. However, after today, she would never wear another t-shirt.

Ever.

At least, she thought, looking around, very few people were actually paying attention to who came in. Everyone seemed to be looking towards a table of people competing over... who could eat the most spaghetti and meatballs. This earned a blink from Tate, who had no excuse except she was very tired. A whispered question earned her an answer from another partygoer--they were competing to see who could eat the most brains in a single sitting. The idea was enough to make Tate, who had problems eating a single sandwich in one sitting, gag, and she hung back towards the wall again. Totally not because she'd just spotted Kess and realized no, she hadn't been making up the funny flips in her stomach last time, that had nothing to do with it at all. (Which had been the only reason she'd shown up; she had thought for sure it was just a trick of the mind, and wanted to prove to herself that she was not confused about the woman from the library. Except she was. Very confused.)

Yeah, the wall was looking like a nice place to be. Tate procured herself a drink--she didn't look to see what it was--and leaned against the wall like she wanted to become part of it. Too many people. Too much noise. And then she kept catching small glances of the person who had invited her, and she rather hoped her drink was alcoholic because then she could stop thinking about it.

When Kess approached, Tate was torn between pretending not to notice her and hiding under a table. Possibly a combination of both. But either she was drinking something a little stronger than she was used to (she was) or she was that unsettled by the number of people and the noise, because when Kess got there Tate hadn't moved. "A bit," she said, deciding not to go into the fact that she didn't really do well with crowds--Kess looked excited, so it clearly was just her that had a problem with the sheer number of people crowded into the apartment.

The compliment Kess paid drew little more than a scowl and flushed cheeks out of the auburn-haired girl. Tate ducked her head down, traced the edges of her cup with her fingertips, and huffed out a somewhat exasperated breath. "Sarcasm duly noted," she said, flicking a gaze up at her blonde conversation partner. T-shirts did not qualify as nice, ever. And besides that, surely all it took was a look around the room (at Ashley, for instance, who Tate recognized as her prom partner, or over to Jada who looked a bit like she'd stepped off a catalogue page, and Castille's beauty pageant costume) to realize Tate had really just half-assed it.

Also that she could have classed this up a lot more if she'd just been willing to sacrifice more than twenty dollars to the costume. "So, you're... here with Ashley, right? Jack and Jill?" (To assuage her nervousness, she took another gulp of whatever alcoholic crap she had in her hands. It did not work.)

Marlo had trouble finding a costume. At least he did until one of his more creative staff members suggested he go as a period naval officer for her Majesties royal armada. At first he thought it was stupid, but after looking at some of the outfits, he figured it wasn’t the worst choice. The day had been spent organizing and managing the hotel trick of treat event. A bit of selling point. Parents paid a small fee and their children could visit rooms and get their candy. He left most of it to the creativity of his staff, each one assigned a theme. Day’s end the room with the most favorites from those who’d come got an award.
Apparently his staff had elected the room he’d been in charge of as the most scary. He didn’t mean to make a child cry. They obviously were just highly…. Something. Either way he thought he’d been quite friendly and welcoming, (he hadn’t). But that mess was over, and at a bit of prompting he’d gotten some zombie makeup and figured to go to that party. Socialize more was what he told himself. Truthfully he wanted an excuse to not have his paperwork done by morning. Elzo had been pushing for him to go out more after all. The b*****d could just deal with it.

The party was a bit what he’d expected a random assortment of people probably half of which were drunk. Some were off trying to do… well. He gave them a bit of a skeptical look. Trying to eat as much possible? Good luck with that. If someone puked he wasn’t electing to clean it up. Not his place after all. However, in just glacing over- “s**t-“ Why? Out of all the ******** places she had to be, why here? ******** him with a nine iron, this was one of the last things he wanted. Seeing Jada at all was like taking what little of his emotions and getting them shot again and again and again. ******** him. And he had to pass her to go grab something to drink. Gathering a bit of his courage, (what was left of it where it concerned her anyway) he walked to the drinks, looking for a can of soda. Like hell he would try that punch. He still had to drive after all.
A glace was stolen towards the pirate and if Marlo could he’d have flirted with her. She sure as all hell looked good. Sadly that ship had not only sailed, it had caught fire.
Looking over to the punch- did he dare it? A quick look to how some were acting and he decided he’d pass. He’d take an unopened can of cola.


Tate. Oh thank ******** god Tate was here. God might have wanted to torment him with Jada but Tate was here, at the very least she could keep his mind off of the pirate shoving her face full of food. He’d settle for awkward standing next to Tate. At the very least he might not feel as bad as creepy almost boyfriend. “Tate.” He raised a hand in greeting as he walked over. “You’re not the type I’d peg for parties but, then again, neither am I. You here for-“ Oops. He hadn’t introduced himself to the girl she’d been talking with. “Ah, sorry, Marlo Xanis.” He extended his hand towards Kess, hoping he’d not offended her by simply jumping into the conversation.

The expression on Tate's face clouded a little more when Kess said she was never sarcastic; she didn't appear to really believe that, even a little foggy on alcohol. Then she shrugged, smiling a little bit. "Ashley is awesome," she agreed, and the word felt a little funny in her mouth like she said it rarely, but it was such a nice word. She should say it more often, she decided. "Sure, I guess. Only--oh, Marlo!"

He looked pretty dapper, didn't he? All done up in a military uniform, it was so un-Marlo she wanted to laugh. All he got was a tremulous smile--the edges shaking as she held in her laughter. He looked so... officious. And pretty completely wrong for Marlo. "Hey," she said, not far enough gone that she leaned against him but deep enough in her cups that she gave it pretty serious consideration. Marlo was a Trustworthy Person, so if she'd needed it she would have leaned right over. "Marlo, this is Kess, she invited me, aaaand Kess, this is Marlo. He's..." She thought about it for a moment, tipping her head a bit to the side. Marlo was her Battleship buddy, the leader of the powered mafia or whatever it was she'd joined, and above all else. "He's my friend," she decided to say. Kissing him twice didn't make him viable boyfriend material. Just meant she'd gotten a little too high on victory.

Whatever she was drinking, though, it was great for making the butterflies go away. She offered Kess a warm smile and took another sip of her drink.

Jada was very tempted to tempt Kess, just to see what happened. She had, after all, imbibed enough that the world had just hit shiny-fun-times. And she liked it when Kess acknowledged her pretty face. Watching her blonde friend shove away a fifth plate, Jada realized she had been crushingly defeated. She was going to cry. She finished off the second, debated taking a few bites of a third, but... No way she would be able to compare. Best she would come in was third place. There was no shame in such a loss. "I'll drink more blood than you, Kess!" she assured the other woman as she got up and wandered away.

Jada hadn't originally planned on joining the blood drinking contest, but why not? She was already well on her way to a hangover when she went in to work the next day. She might as well go all the-

Xanis? Purple eyes followed the blonde as he went for the punch- and she suddenly regretted imbibing the Everclear. He was gorgeous, looking uncomfortable in his sailor-man-suit. She was surprised to see him at a party like this. Unzombied. And talking to Kess! Oh no, oh no, he was going to-! He couldn't!

The alcohol Jada scrambled up, running over to Kess and jumping on her arm. "Kess! Let's go and drench Ariel!" her voice was slurred, even more so by the fact that she was trying to talk a mile a minute, tugging on the taller blonde's arm. "The hostess said she wants her covered in blood and gore, and no one has done it yet. Lets get her!" Her voice dropped, and she obviously thought she was being quiet when she said, "He'll eat your soul. Off we go!"