Welcome to Gaia! ::

It is, in many places, customary for the host of a party to greet her guests as they arrived. The people who have those customs most likely are not holding public parties that span a very large estate, and first and foremost, those people are not Charlene Phillip Dartsmoore. The woman in question was not at all interested in being festive and was much more content to lay on a few very large pumpkins, drink in hand, and just watch the people wandering by.

It was strange, but for once she didn’t look like a middle aged drunk. Her hair wasn’t in its usual pompadour – instead neatly pulled back into a high ponytail atop her head and silvery instead of its usual weird blue color that it gained from the gel. She wore a strange costume – which did suit the situation, if one thought about it. A deep green bodice with a strange, raised collar that served for the effect. It looked like a gown – and actually was – save for the fact that it was fully open on the front of the skirt. While it was fashionable to just wear leggings with that sort of dress, Dartie chose to wear buckled and belted combat boots and leather pants. And she wasn’t holding a full BOTTLE of liquor either – probably the strangest bit of it all. In the woman’s hand was a crystal glass of some amber drink and she was sipping at it. Though, the glass didn’t seem to be EMPTYING, but still it served the effect. All that, mixed with her rather calm expression and the way she regally draped herself upon the five huge pumpkins like it was a throne gave the woman a much…younger and more regal effect.

But who gives a damn about what Dartie looked like? She was just sitting there. It was her sons – Bailey and Absinthe – that were really worth any notice.

The monkly toddler had been dressed up in a neat little silken outfit and looked quite like a little Asian prince upon a cushion. And that was actually where he sat. Bailey had set Sinny up on a cushion next to the face painting table so that he could keep an eye on his brother, seeing as the little one wanted to see and socialize with the people and his mother didn’t. And being a very well behaved – and lazy – little monk baby, Absinthe stayed where he was put.

Bailey Bacardi had already set up the paints and such at the table where he was expecting Franny to join him when she arrived. The snake boy had worked with his natural looks to design his costume. Wearing a black robe and hood, he’d taken the liberty of using his bizarre complexion to his advantage, applying a bit of black paint and a set of yellow contacts to make him look the part properly. He had decided that rather than put on a bald cap with horns, he’d just keep the hood up or say he’d shaved off the horns and put in weave. Creativity was key, after all. And anyway, he was doing face painting so doing his own face was great practice.

The last two notable people in the main area were Kahlua Dartsmoore and Feejhu. The ice god was mostly wandering shyly about, trying not to be noticed too much. He’d altered his look only slightly – wearing a puffy shirt and vest with tight pants, big boots (he’d gotten those from Uncle Charlie), a bandana and an eyepatch. Feejhu, on the other hand, had decided to dress much more sexily, despite the fact that she was pregnant. For a pregnant, green, six armed goddess, she actually pulled off the French Maid costume rather well. Particularly since she was sitting a lot and the table obscured her lower half – the girl was running registrations for things and making sure people got directions to the events.

(that's what I could think of XD)

Archie Saturn, Francine Campinski and Pandanokirin had been getting strange looks all morning. Considering how close it was to Halloween, it was conceivable that they would have been ignored since it was clear they were simply wearing costumes, but it wasn't really the costumes that people were staring at. It was the fact that all three costumes were the same that had thrown people off. One didn't often see a grown man, a preteen girl and a baby simultaneously dressed as fuzzy pandas.

Upon arrival, Franny hurried past the raffle ticket table and... was that a pinata?... and made a beeline for the face painting booth and Bailey. "Hi!" she chirped, looking from her bright red friend to the kid on the cushion. "I love your costumes!" She cupped a panda-glove-covered hand over her mouth and stage-whispered, "Who's he?" at the other former criminal.

Archie hung back, Panda in his arms, the baby munching on one of his weird, disembodied hands. "Franny says hi," Archie said, looking at Dartie with a slightly confused expression on his painted face. "You look... nice."

(( Deeg's face stolen by me! *noms it* heart ))

Bailey smiled pleasantly. "That's my little brother, Absinthe. Sinny's a sweetie, he won't bug you."


Dartsmoore glanced up at Archie and nodded. "Thanks. I'd say the same for you but I don't know if panda qualifies under the heading of nice in this sense."

"Oh no, I didn't think he would!" Franny said, giving the toddler more of her attention now that she knew he was Bailey's brother. "Hi, Sinny!" The girl seemed neverendingly perky and accommodating, but she had a tendency to get overwhelmed with little to no notice. Probably better to make the acquaintance of as many people as possible before the party got too crowded. She flopped down in a folding chair and took off her furry gloves. Her attention was caught by the nearby building. "Is that a castle?"

"Hmm," Archie agreed. "I guess pandas don't wear gowns and things, but they're endangered? Maybe? I'm not sure. We can raise awareness and stuff." He sounded less than convinced that the way he was dressed was going to change the world. "I just wanted to dress like a panda," he said with a grin. Panda grinned too, even though he didn't have a clue what was going on. "What's there to do here?" Archie asked.

Sinny gurgled and waved at the girl before settling back on his cushion. Lazy monk baby is lazy.


"Um.........I do not see the point of dressing like a panda to raise awareness of it being endangered but anyway." the woman commented dryly, rolling her eyes and taking another sip of her drink. "There's dancing in the temple over there - and probably food. You can wander about the haunted castle if you want - I think that's mostly open. I know nothing of whether the Pinata game or Bobbing for Stuff is open yet, so you'll have to wait on that. And you can sign up for a few things towards the front with the pregnant maid."

Franny stood up again as she turned from the castle to the lake. "And a lake! This place is really cool!"

Archie's smile faded and he sighed, "I guess." Even when she was dressed up pretty, Dartie was still the weird lady who hung out in bars in the middle of the day and told him stories about tail amputation and punched him in the face and hated panda conservation. "Welp, pregnant maid sounds good," he said, hoisting his baby god higher on his hip and heading in that direction.

Alice in Wonderland trailed dismally behind a beautiful blond fairy princess, complete with dragon, and one Tara ****** (who didn't bother dressing up yet again). Though the family hadn't been much in contact with the rest of the gods/goddesses and so on for a while, Tara had deemed it a decently chaperoned event (better than D-corp anyway) when the invitation and request for workers came through.

Nervously, Korin smoothed his frilly blue dress out and adjusted the wig. He hadn't seen his classmates in forever, dealing with one thing after another. When the request came in, Korin hadn't particularly wanted to go, or help out but his mother had agreed... So here he was.

The family wandered around a bit, Aysel pouting at the fact that she couldn't go running off until Korin had found where he was supposed to go. Korin just kept dragging his steps more and more, the last part of the initial excitement turning into dismay.

Feejhu, in her frilly little gown was seated pleasantly at the front tables. She was both on the duty of registering people and such, and directing them. Kahlua was sitting quiety beside her, feeling that the life goddess wouldn't mind his presence and the two were just waiting for someone to come talk to them.

About that time, Feejhu noticed someone who quite highly resembled one of her old classmates from those temporary classes on the Samadueanna. Curiously she called out "Korin?" towards the child dressed as Alice in Wonderland. She remembered a boy, but then, anyone who had seen her before would remember a long haired, shy little girl and not an older, pregnant, six armed french maid.

Korin glanced up as his name was called, glancing around. A green haired teen in very *short* maid's outfit that no real maid would be caught dead in. Of course his frilly blue dress wasn't exactly all that typical either.. Narrowing his eyes, Korin tried to think. It sorta looked like Feejhu.. but the last time he knew she didn't have six arms.. At the very least she looked sorta official and she did call his name.

"Mom," he tugged at the older woman's arm. "I think we're supposed to go over there," he said gesturing towards the green girl.

Tara glanced down at her son and smiled, giving him a push ahead of her. "Allright. Let's go then. Aysel, Apala...Don't wander off to far," the woman warned her kids. As much as she trusted the crew on putting this together.. well... Take a look at what happened at D-corp the last few times more than a class full of kids gathered in one place.

So the group made it's way towards the registration table, Tara nearly pushing Korin the whole way there. His steps grew more and more reluctant and the boy was beginning to wonder if he could make an illussion of himself, and then make himself look like the surroundings and get out of the whole thing when the table was suddenly right there in front of him.

"Er.... Hi......" He muttered.

"Wow! You've grown since the last time I saw you! I'm Feejhu, from your class!" the girl spoke cheerfully and in a friendly manner.

"Last time we saw each other, we were the same size as Kahlua here." the woman said, indicating the child sitting next to her, who shyly waved.

Lu instantly decided he liked this blue boy - he seemed shy, wasn't scared to dress girly, and didn't talk too much. Plus, he was pretty and that's always a plus.

Feejhu glanced at her register and smiled up at Korin again. "You're signed up to be on duty in the Haunted Castle, aren't you?"

"Y-you too....." Korin replied shakily. It was her! ...Growing those arms must have been painful...Shaking his head to clear the odd thought out he smiled tenatively at Feejhu and the kid next to her.

"Um.. uh... yeah... Mom signed me up for it...." Korin managed to get out, glancing backwards at his mom. "But... " Korin trailed off, not sure how to put into words what exactly he was trying to say.

"Don't know what to do?" she offered helpfully. "Just head over to the castle. Shane - the nice little boy in there - will direct you to what room you should be working when you get there. He'll also give you a lowdown of your job."

Humming cheerfully Glitera gazed around the place. She loved Halloween! She could flaunt her fairy wings with ease and no one would stare. She wore a very witchy costume. A short black dress with corset top clung to her body dusted with silver sparkles. Large see-through white wings stuck from her back matching her long curled white hair that hung down to her waist. A crooked witches hat topped her head looking as if it would fall off any moment. A white broom with black spider web pattern was clutched in her hand and short black heels were strapped to her feet. To finish off her costume was a silver chain which hung a shining white light that glowed non stop. Very little make-up covered her face but black eye-liner framed her dark blue and silver eyes.

Noticing a small group of people she walked over to them. Recognizing the green skinned girl by her description Glitera smiled brightly and stood in front of her. "Hey Feejhu! I'm Glitera. I'm here to start up the pinata and all that jazz. I was told to come see you about where it's stationed." Leaning on the broom she turned to the boy in the pretty dress. "Wow great costume I love how you pulled it off! You look lovely! Absolutely gorgeous dear!"

There was a trio that appeared for the gathering all from the same household, that of the man Shin Freed. The first of them and the one who seemed to be the self proclaimed leader of the group was the Monster God Vishal who looked as though he didn't really but much time or effort into his costume. He blamed it on the fact that he didn't exactly have the build to do many normal costumes. He was wearing a pair of dark slacks, boots, and a white mask over his eyes and that was about it. He didn't think he needed much more then the mask after all to be his costume.

Next to him was his sister who for once was dressed up the part of a girl instead of looking the part of just 'another of the guys' which was the look that she normally went for. She was done up as a pirate, she told Vishal that she picked the costume up so that she could use it as an excuse to chase after her favorite 'booty' while at the festival... to which Vishal could only roll his eyes. The moment they appeared her eyes were already darting back and forth in search of her favorite person.

While he was trying not to look as eager Vishal was basically doing the same thing, searching the faces of those who were already for the one that he wanted to see.

Behind the pair of older Gods was a small, snake like child who followed behind Vishal in a very loyal manner, acting more the part of a minion to the Monster God instead of acting like a God himself. That was how he'd been raised as since when he was first found they had no idea what he was so Vishal took him in. They dubbed him a naga and he was trained with Vishal's other minions so even knowing what he really was Panhsj still felt content in following the Monster God.

Panhsj was the only one that came today because of the festival itself. He was curious about all of it, about all of what was going on and wanted to get a look at everything. It was to bad that Master Vishal and Krishna seemed to have little interest... He lifted a hand up to fiddle with his hair which was tied back today and hanging over a shoulder. He was done up in an Egyption manner, complete with the snake jewelry, eye make up, and his hair dyed temporarily black for the occasion.

He was taking in things currently that were missed by the Master and Krishna, eyes wide in awe.

It had been virtually impossible to contain little Elly's excitement for this very occasion.

Through the laborious process of dressing the little ex-criminal for the occasion, both Alaina and Garrett were rendered frazzled before the party has begun, nevermind getting dressed in their costumes. Thankfully for them, they both chose relatively simple costumes for themselves; Garrett wears a leather harness loosely around his midsection, a pair of jeans, and a light washable spray of white on his wings, masquerading as Angel from the X-Men movies; Alaina, however, is decked in pinstripe in simple yet classy mafia princess attire.

But the belle of the ball, the girl with boundless energy and now a costume to aid this, is a little western diva, her hair pulled back into her signature pigtails [bound to loosen by the end of the night] and wearing a dangerous amount of white and light pink. Her smile is almost brighter and more blinding than her chipper costume. [For the sheer visual, click, XD.]

"And, and Bailey's goan be there?" the cowgirl confirms for the fifth time that day, giving her brother's hand a delighted squeeze when he nods and sighs with a tired roll of his eyes. He and their mother can only hope that Elly can exhaust her reserve of energy and sleep very, very well tonight.

For no apparent reason, other than that if she contained it any longer, she'd probably combust, Elly lets out a squeal and quickens her pace. Garrett's arm is almost yanked from his shoulder, and he doesn't know what dazes him more; the speed his sister is now pulling him at, or the fact that she's apparently gotten strong enough to yank him that hard, ignoring that he wasn't expecting it to brace himself. He complies and quickens to match her speed, if only to get to the party and get rid of her faster.

Alaina walks at her own leisurely pace behind her charges, her arms stretched up and meeting at the base of her neck. What a freaking grand place this chick has! Who'd have thought? she muses admiringly.

[Yayyyyy feel free to ignore me if I'm too slow to respond]

Feejhu smiled at Glitera, and nodded her head. "It is wonderful to finally meet you. The Pinata area is that little arena over that way." as she spoke, one of her many arms pointed to the large squared off area. It had a chest that contained tons of pinatas for the event and a set up pulley thing so that the kids could hit the paper-mache creations. There was also a stick leaning up against one wall of the small 'arena'. It was set up so that the proprietor of it - in this case, Glitera - could rig up the pinatas and be sure that one kid was in to try at hitting at a time.

After she'd finished her directing duties, the girl managed to turn and spot just the person she'd wanted to see. Standing up and waving one or two of her long green arms, the maid-garbed goddess attempted to attract the attention of her lover, and her lover's siblings.

Kahlua, at this point, was noticing the cat girl that Feejhu was waving too and felt very sad that he wasn't the only pirate this evening. Bailey had been smart to dress as something from a movie - there weren't likely to be many of that character, that was for sure.

Bailey grinned at Franny. "Yeah, this place is pretty cool." he told her before turning and noticing Elegy.

"ELLY!" the red boy called out, his voice almost sounding deep and strong over the crowd, as he spotted the child. He hoped to attract her attention and get his favorite bow-wearer over to say hi.