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Muka was hopeful about this Scarentines Day. It was his first with Needle and he wanted it to be special, but their 'date' was to be a party thrown by his father. He was told it would be 'small' and while he didn't believe that, he was at least hoping it wasn't one of the grand affairs that were usually thrown.

Muka had come for his ghoulfriend with a small bouquet of nightshade blooms, specially splattered in red ink to look like a spray of blood. It was gruesomely romantic and the florists had gotten used to taking the strix's orders of ink-tinted flowers and seemed to now revel in the challenge of making each bouquet or corsage he ordered into a new and interesting project.

The strix loved giving Needle reasons to wear the few gowns and dresses she allowed him to buy her, as well as small tokens of simple jewelry. Bracelets were useless to her so it only ended up being necklaces (and maaaybe there had been one anklet.. which was nice since she didn't wear shoes often). He'd made sure to dress in compliment to her, almost a throwback for him, in cream and gold and burgundy for the holiday.

The car was the same as usual, the large hearse with the shambling zombie driver, and the drive had been straight and brief since they were headed out to the fringes of town where the houses got bigger and farther apart. The pumpkin moon was large behind his father's mansion which gave it an adequate silhouette for Needle as Muka escorted her from the car.

"He promises that it will be a small party." Muka grinned, feeling the odd emotion of pride to have his ghoulfriend with him. He didn't understand it but it was an undeniable feeling. "And my brother will be here." He giggled. "He likes you I think."

"Well, father does exaggerate but he's not known for lying." The strix paused at the door a moment to give Needle a reassuring nuzzle and kiss. "So it's sure to be smaller than he's used to." He giggled. The giggle increased as she expressed worry about doing something wrong. "I've made it a career to do things wrong at home! Don't worry about that."

As if on cue the demonic looking door knockers rolled their eyes and the doors swung opne for the pair. Muka, unbeknownst to Needle, had been adament with his father about the lighting in the house. It had been adjusted in such a way so that things were as visible as possible for Needle. It wasn't too bright, nor too dim for those with sight, and bits of light were present in the most important places such as furniture and doorways, so that the ghoul could see the outlines of things and not smash into them.

The front hall was mostly empty but another zombie butler, almost identical to the first, came to take Needle's bouquet and put it somewhere safe until she left. With a grunt he motioned to the lit up entry way where the sounds of laughter and people talking seemed to be drifting from.

"Well." Muka grinned. "People aren't pouring out into the entry hall. That's reassuring!" He didn't give much time to enjoy the double curved stairs, the room lined with paintings of dead relatives and skeleton horses in fields of wilted grass. Instead he escorted her towards the room.

The room they entered was medium sized, though to Needle it probably seemed large, and to Muka's surprise it was a small get together as far as his father was concerned. It was also a bit more of a relaxed affair. It was laid out similar to their prom had been with about a dozen round tables with four or five settings on one side of the room. There was a dance floor cleared where a few elegant looking demons twirled to music played by some sort of haunted or enchanted band of instruments. A buffet style meal was set up for everyone though a few zombie servers did wait to clear plates or fetch food for those just a bit too lazy to get their own meals.

"Oooh." Muke hooted happily. He'd not often been invited as a guest to anything his father had thrown and his excitement, if not obvious from his grin, would have been clear to Needle by the way his fluttering heart picked up and his birdlike noises increased within his own personal bubble of space. "This is nice!" Flower arrangements on the tables matched those he'd given Needle so ink splattered flowers stood out to the ghoul all over the room.

Several heads turned to their entrance though he only recognized a few and his lanky mustached brother practically bounded for them. "Mukaaaa and Needle!" Stache twirled his mustache before bowing deeply and stealing Needle's hand away to bow to. He wasn't as deft with kissing needle ridden women. "Glad to see you! Jackin' great to see you!!" His crimson skin practically glowed in the Scarentine themed room.

"Well! Yes I'm doing well." The brother laughed and there was a hint in his tone that 'well' was a flexible term. Muka occasionally told Needle stories of his brother's exploits which usually involved wealthy widows and sometimes women of a married sort. Climbing out of bedroom windows might as well be a profession for him at this point. "You are looking stunning, if I may say so." Stache twirled his impressive mustache. "Got yourself a good one." He gave Muka a hearty slap on the shoulder which caused the strix to giggle. "I snagged you kids some chairs at my table." He pointed to a somewhat central table with a bored looking woman sitting there.

"Thank you!" Muka chirped, "For everything. I see father got my notes about the decorations and lighting." His head bobbled happily. The brothers had another moment or two of small talk, nothing important, before the man himself appeared. Mr. Knobwalker didn't look much older than his sons but he carried himself with an air of importance that the others in the room just didn't have. His skin was a smooth grey, similar to Muka's, his eyes golden yellow as well. His black goatee was curled at the point and he was wearing a burgundy suit for the Scarentines celebration.

"Ulmuka! Needle!" He flashed a shining white grin and the engraver ghoul would note that the flower in his label was ink splattered in black to set him apart from everything else. "Charming! What a lovely couple! Thank you for coming!" He swept Needle's hand up to a kiss, almost as good at it as her boilfriend was at that particular action. He was smooth, groomed, and a bit like the fanciest car salesman you'd ever met.

Ulmuka was politely silent as his ghoulfriend conversed with his father. He instead simply listened with one ear and with the other had small talk with Stache about the woman he'd brought and what ridiculous circumstance he'd gotten himself into this time.

"Oh ho.. Please call me Senior. Mr. Knobwalker would be my father." The demon smirked and leaned towards her as if he was telling a secret, "and he thankfully is not here tonight." Muka had never discussed a grandfather but it was likely he didn't know him very well. Senior tutted her dismissivelywhen she commented on her behavior. "Oh shush.. you are already more polite and well behaved than quite a few people I've had to my home."

Senior offered his arm to Needle a moment and Ulmuka did relinquish her, if only because they were walking to the table. "I'd also be interested in hearing about your people. I've heard of Engravers but you are a secretive lot, yes?" Unknown to the ghoul, he was always looking for new business opportunities so undiscovered sects of society definitely came of interest.

Muka and Stache trailed along and the woman at the table, some sort of egyptian inclined lady with dramatic eye makeup and horns, perked up a bit and smiled as they arrived. Stache snatched a drink from a passing butler and gave it to her with a smile, before almost choking on a cough when Needle spoke of whathe did for a living. Muka snagged two glasses of bubbly red liquid and set them at their places, giggling at his brother.

"I would be delighted to have a conversation any time you'd like." Senior finally let go of Needle, his touches practiced and light. He seemed to be an expert at all of this. "Just not right now." He laughed and winked. "More guests have arrived and I should greet them." He placed a another kiss on her hand, nodded to his sons, and was off to greet another arriving couple.

Muka was by her side and on her arm in a moment. His giggle seemed as close to nervous as he got. "Well .. heh.. that was painless."

"Heh.. nervous?" Muka giggled the accusation away and moved them back to sit with his brother. More guests were arriving and though it wasn't super crowded, it became enough of a gathering that the teens were able to adequately blend in among the partiers.

It turned out that Stache's date's name was Giselle and she was a bit of a fashion entrepreneur. She did clothing design and was happy to talk to Needle, glad to have another ghoul it seemed, about her eventual plan to contract a mad scientist to custom make patchwork models for her. Models in all manners and sizes so that she could adequately 'break free' of the modern conventions of size and beauty and embrace all that was wonderful about being from Halloween.To Muka.. it sounded ambitious and a bit.... artsy. He'd left the ghouls to chat for a moment so he could get them plates.

Conversation then switched as Muka took over talking to Giselle and Stache began to very emphatically discuss tattoos with Needle. He was very insistent that he had tattoos that would just not be appropriate to show her, and expressed interest in perhaps having her tattoo him in the future. Muka, it seemed, was attempting to get Giselle to make some clothes for him.

Not surprising.

By the time they were finishing up their plates many of the patrons had begun to dance. Muka glanced to Needle, resting a hand on her knee under the table. "Would you like to .. ahh.. dance?" he grinned.

"Oh yes!" Muka perked. He'd planned on sneaking off anyway. He wanted to show her his room and his father's various collections of things. The backyard was always nice too and the night was a pleasant one. In fact his enthusiasm to show things off to Needle seemed to cut their dance short. On the second round of the room, Muka danced his ghoulfriend neatly out of the room.

He giggled and held her tightly, since they had been mid-spin when he flung their bodies into the hall (too forcefully probably). The strix held on so Needle didn't go flying. The hall wasn't as empty as expected but thankfully they only recieved passing glances from the couples who stood around and chatted. It was a party after all and giggling, spinning teens wasn't even close to raucous in comparison to the parties normally held here.

After regaining their bearings, Muka took his ghoul's hand and led her to a side hall which was lined with statues and paintings. He could have taken her up the main staircase to his room, but this way had more art. The statues were mostly old, some seemed to be related by the inscriptions, but towards the end things took a more modern turn with strange shapes and indiscernible subject matter. Each piece was lit by a spotlight so Needle would have to lean in to look at anything not ink based.

"Some of my father's art.." The strix was very noncommital about it, though he did stop to admire a statue of a very stately demon with impressive beardage. "I always liked this one.." He giggled.

There was, at the very end, a small room by itself with a massively high glass cieling and one whole wall dedicated to a family tapestry. It showed every relative for generations and went so high up that it was impossible to see the top names from the floor. Muka's name was there at the bottom, along with the dozens of other siblings, as the most recently added on.

"This is our .. ahh.. family tree." One would notice that unless a woman was a blood-born child, there were almost no women listed as wives or mothers of the children. "I'm there!" He lifted the bottom part of the fabric to poke his own name. A string caught on his talon and he momentarily panicked to free himself before he ruined it.

"Well most men in my father's line.. ah.. heh.. are much like him. Many children and the mother's don't hang around much." He shrugged. "It is just their way I suppose. The women born into the family don't usually have as many children and only take one husband. Or none." With such unique father figures it wasn't a wonder the women didn't marry.

He took her hand guiding her away from the family tree once she'd leaned back upwards. There was a curling staircase at the back of the hallway. It was old, the wood worn from generations of feet going up and down. Muka made sure that Needle climbed the tight curl of stairs ahead of him so that he could catch her if she lost her footing. With the stairs worn away and the poor lighting, it wouldn't be a surprise if she stumbled. He kept a solid hand on the base of her back so she knew he was there to catch her.

The top of the stairs opened into another hall, this time with a large window looking out on the acres of forest behind the house. The carpet was plush and red, the walls lined with a few paintings and torches. Heavy wooden doors were shut tight as they continued on, until Muka stopped in front of one that had quite a few scratchy claw marks around the knob.

He clasped her hand tightly, giggling, as he pulled his ghoulfriend into the room. It was open and airy with a large round bed in the center without posts or a head or foot. It was just a round mass of silk sheets and pillows. He had a private bathroom and huge double glass doors leading to a balcony and the woods beyond.

"This is my room."