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Alinedra nudged an orange coloured napkin back into place, taking one last survey of the room. Decorated in splashes of blacks, reds, oranges and greens, she had transformed the old gray common area into something completely different. Smiling, Ali couldn't wait for the party. Having stepped up this year, Ali hoped her first Halloween with Eden would be magical. It's why she volunteered to throw the bash. That, and laboratory life could drag on a person, but she hadn't told her boss that.

Taking one last look, Ali got up and walked over too the refreshment table. Glancing at her watch, she noticed that the minute hand had cought up to her quicker than anticipated. Grabbing the ladle to the punch, she began filling cups. The whole thing was set to start in little over a half hour, and she still had to get ready herself. The whole event was a costume extravaganza, and she still had a bunch to do. Her costume wasn't too hard to get into, but she wanted to have time to make it look just right. One of her co-workers had agreed to take care of Eden and his costume while she was working here. They had spent the last few weeks making it together. He was going to be the most adorable red headed lion, though notably the costume was more fun to make than she's sure the party will be. But this wasn't the time to sit and daydream.

Finishing up the cups, and doing a three hundered and sixty degree turn in the center of the room, Ali clapped her hands and smiled. It was all done! Rushing to the door and closing it, she took out the pen from her jacket and added a few more exclamation points to the sign on the door. It read "DO NOT ENTER TILL 6PM!!!" in bold black sharpie marker, with a little doodled pumpkin on the bottom. Not that she imagined many of the researchers were willing to walk away from their charges just to take a peak at the festivities early, but it was more for their charges, which might wander in out of curiosity.

Eden had been exceptionally irked that he wouldn't be allowed into the room early. Nearly throwing a tantrum in the lab the day before, he tried to argue that he could help. Ali knew his intentions were well, but also knew he'd cause more mess than she would have time for. All morning she had been preparing games, including filling a huge bucket full of apples for bobbing, lugging in huge pumpkins for a pumpkin carving contest, and making numerous refreshments. Some of it had taken place the day before, but most of it had started at 6am that day.

Finally reaching her lab, she grabbed her costume and made for her bathroom. It took some doing, but she finally managed to squeeze into it. Not knowing how women of the day could even breathe, she nearly didn't fit through her door when she was done. Putting final touches on her hair and make-up, she had only three minutes to go before she had to be back to the party. Grabbing a CD from the desk she'd made particularly for the party, Alinedra dashed out and ran to the door she had wanted to greet everyone by, her high heals echoing down the hall.

Good, no one is there yet, She thought outloud, when she reached the door. Throwing it open, she lunged at the cd player by the door, put in the CD, threw the volume on eight, and dimmed the lights. Flipping another switch, many random decorations lit up, and a fog machine in the corner began to dispense fog in huge rolling clouds that began to flow into the hallway at once. Perfect!

Standing by the door, She could already see people making their way toward the sound. Adjusting her high wig, and re-fitting her vampire teeth, she wondered how at all practical it was to wear a huge Elegant Satin Corset and Skirt from H&R Wesley's. Victorian era was certainly gorgeous, but it would be a miracle if she made it through the night. Casting that thought aside, and looking in her compact one last time to see if the blood was undisturbed on her face, she threw her stuff inside the door and waited for the party goers. Tonight was going to be fun.

Refreshments



Prizes for the Kids



((Please only post these in your Vale Journal. I purchased them.(some are freebies) They'll stay hosted on my server, but if you want to save them to yours, that's alright as well))

Trish glanced at her watch as she grabbed the hood of her cape and briskly walked through the halls of the Vale. She had been hired by the Vale a few weeks ago, but she hadn't been scheduled to start working until earlier this week. The young woman had walked into the lobby to be greeted by a cheerful young man with pumpkin orange hair. He had more than energetically informed her of her duties as a janitor and about the Halloween party.

The woven basket that hung from her arm repeatedly smacked against her stomach as she quickened her pace. The girl hadn't had much time to work on a costume so she had dove into her trunk of old costumes ranging from when she was in elementary school to last Halloween. Trish had spent too much time trying to get a costume coordinated out of her old things that she hadn't realized how late it had gotten. Which was why the girl was now power walking through the Vale.

She heard faint music as she took a turn which only got louder as she neared the plain doors of what she had recently discovered to be the common room. It was dim inside except the few rays of colored light dancing. The ghost fog seeped out of the common room and into the halls. Tris could feel a calm overcome her.

Her feet slowed and her back straightened as she fixed her scarlet hooded cape. She hugged a wolf plushie to her body as she neared the common room. Why was she nervous? There was nothing to be nervous about, or so she told herself. Trish hadn't met any of the other employees at the Vale since she hadn't started working but a few days ago.

“Well, I've got to meet them sooner or later,” she said to herself as she walked through the common room doors awkwardly.

Aly sat perched on Sodashi’s shoulders, dressed in her own costume of black ribbons and lace. Having recently learned the words "up!" and "down!" (much to Sodashi’s dismay) she now enjoyed view of the large world Sodashi's shoulders provided whenever she pleased. The girl wiggled uncomfortably in the black dress her guardian had so felt the need to dress her in, frowning as she fiddled with the ribbons Sodashi had tied in her snowy white hair.

While Aly may not have been overly zealous for this party, the same could not be said for Sodashi. Halloween was by far her favorite holiday: who could anyone give up a day where they asked you to be rash, reckless, and scare the living daylights out of your neighbors? Unfortunately, going to a company party was not quite the same as running on the streets with other such adults who decided, as she had, no age was too old for Halloween. So the girl settled with a simple pirate costume; an eye patch, a leather tricorn hat, boots, rapier, ect. Pillage and Plunder. It was a character Sodashi easily slipped into… although to express it as such was probably something of an understatement..

Once arriving at the doors of the party, Sodashi made a beeline for the Observer responsible for the night, taking only a moment to glance at the new faces who had also come to celebrate possibly the best holiday ever created in the history of holidays. With broad smile on her face, she greeted the Victorian lady with a bow, or as much of one as she could manage with Aly perched on her shoulders. Little rascal.
"Well, well, lady of the hour, eh? Lovely work, Ali."

Sodashi, frankly, was amazed at Ali's organization. Had this been her party, the larger part would have simply been illegal fireworks, a bonfire, and food. Ali had the entire night planned out here, from events and games to keep the people interested to candy/sugar to keep the kids awake for the entire night.

"You.. I.. you're crazy," was all that Sodashi could manage as she took the two bags Ali offered her, stunned with the amount of activities the Observer had planned out. "In that, I mean you're utterly amazing. Really thought this one out, huh? I'm impressed." Sodashi peeked into her own bag filled of goodies and eyed the multi-colored gummy eyeballs. Mmm.. appetizing.

Gah, that little bugger was getting heavy. With a single swift movement, obviously practiced, Aly was standing on the floor pouting up at Sodashi.
"Hey. Hey. Don't give me that face. Take this," and handed her the empty bag. "Go.. go play in the fog or something."

But as the baby took the bag and immediately started to put it in its mouth, Sodashi (again) realized that the baby was, but a baby.
"Ok, fine. Have it your way. Stay with me." Sodashi reached down and snatched the bag from the girl's hands.

Turning her attention back to Ali, she laughed nervously and muttered her apologies.

Offering her arm and another bow to the lady, Sodashi grinned.
"Shall we dance, milady? Or shall we introduce the finest Halloween Party Coordinator to those ignorant enough not to have heard of her already?"

Late. For one reason or another, the children always seemed to make Raven late. In this case she didn't especially matter, since a Halloween party didn't rank high on her list of priorities. Still, it was mildly annoying to arrive, only to find half a dozen other people already there. Raven liked to be early, and now everyone would have to see her arrive.

At least she wasn't wearing a gaudy costume, like the rest of them. While the children- and Mahou, when it came down to it- refused to let her out of the house in her normal clothing, she would not submit to something so degrading. It was what had made them late, but she felt far better in her black robes, standard dress for some of the work she did. She had refused the peaked hat and broom offered to her, but did agree to bring a wand. At least that would be somewhat realistic.

Eirinn was unaware of Raven's inner annoyance, more preocupied with her own outfit. It was something that had been chosen for her, for the clover girl would never have picked the stuffy velvet princess dress herself. It was a nice enough shade of yellow that didn't clash with her hair and eyes, and her unique physiology allowed her the look of petticoats without the itchy tulle. But for someone who preferred not wearing anything, the costume was overwhelming, and she pulled at it constantly.

"Stop that," Raven scolded as they drew closer to the crowd. It would be most appropriate to greet the hostess first. But, being one of the less social Observers, she had no idea who that was.

Sodashi blinked at the youngster. Now why couldn't Aly be cute like that? All she ever did was order Sodashi around and get lost. Honestly. Rotten luck.

At the child's sudden outburst for candies, Sodashi snorted and placed her hands on her hips eying the little child who barely reached her knees. "Trick or treat? You think you can pull a trick on me? Think you're big and scary enough to get me?"

...

"Yea, ok I think you're a scary lion too. There ya go." She fished out a gummy eyeball and dropped it into the child's paper bag with a rustle and a wink. "Go play. Introduce yourself to Aly. Your mother and I have business to attend to." She gave a nudge to Aly with her boot. "Aly, Eden. Eden, Aly."

And with that, Sodashi dragged Ali away (of couse, keeping an eye on the two children) to the stage and snatched the microphone of its stand. It was past time to get this party started.



And before Ali could protest, Sodashi's words had amplified themselves over the speakers. "Ladies, Gentlemen~" Sodashi paused as the small crowd turns their focus to center stage. "Well, we'll keep this short. Before we get this party started, we've got to recognize a certain someone responsible for the night. Pleased to introduce, Observer Alinedra~" Sodashi backs off grinning, and shoved the microphone into her Ali's hands and joined in the scattered applause..

Before Alinedra could stop her, Sodashi grabbed the mic and made the announcement. She could feel the blush starting from her toes, finally traveling up to her face to show through even her white vampire make-up. Giving Soda a look of seething amusement, she took the mic and cleared her throat.

"I'm glad we could all make it here tonight. I know we havn't had a lot of opportunity to get together and do things like this, so i wanted to make this Halloween special, perhaps even a tradition." Smiling and cringing at the same time at the thought of redecorating next year, Ali continued. "I wanted this Halloween to reflect just how much i love this place. The Vale has opened up new avenues for me to indulge my interests. It's gifted me with the wonderful Eden, whom i'm extremely proud of. I've made friends, and learned some things along the way. Through it all, i've had nothing but support, and so this celebration is for you."

After the applause died down, she continued. "Alright then! Lets get this show under way! Trick or treating is officially open, which means adults, grab a full bag of treats, and make sure the kids all have an empty bag from the table. We also have refreshments, apple bobbing, a pumpkin carving contest, and many other things to keep us all occupied. Also, the costume contest vote box is in the corner, please make your way there and vote sometime tonight. Erm... I think that's it! "

Grabbing the remote from the table next to her, she turned on the music to her favourite song for the season. The Monster Mash began to play in high volume, and the lights dimmed and flashed to go with the music, a little trick she'd learned when she was younger.

Alinedra allowed herself to be dragged around, chatting with people, dancing on and off and having a relatively good time. Not wanting to mess up her costume she passed on bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving, but made sure Eden knew exactly what he was doing for them.

Excusing herself from Sodashi's company for a moment, Ali found herself a hidden comfy chair tucked away in the corner. It gave her an excellent view of the party, and allowed her to sit comfortably yet still breathe. Taking her fan out of her tiny purse she sat and fanned her face, taking the moment to catch her breath. How these women EVER went their whole lives wearing corsets she'll never know. It might do wonders to her figure, but she couldn't run laps around the party like this, atleast not for long periods of time. So with her fan, and her refreshment, Ali took a breather in the corner, entertaining herself watching the others go on with each other.