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In the spirit of the season, halloween approaching fast, General Ilmenite -- or, more accurately, Ever Ambrodiel -- has decided to take advantage of his recent employment to throw a little party to help Negas get to know each other a little bit better out of uniform.

It is an out of uniform pizza party, on the surface; more than enough pizza and beer for anyone who chooses to come, though ostensibly the alcohol is only for those officers over the age of 21. He has taken over the common room of General-King Zinkenite's nega housing building, has tossed a couple dozen pillows around for people to perch on while they eat. Somewhere, there might be a plate of brownies.

But why let such an opportunity go to waste? Before the night has hit its full swing, he will bust out a bunch of cards, call for order, and a game will begin. A game that will let them get to know each other better.

Maybe a game that teaches you to trust no one and suspect everyone around you isn't great for a bonding event. But then, this is the Negaverse...

HOW THE GAME WORKS:

NOTE: This information will be reviewed at the start of the game and again explained each round, with more detail as to exactly what's expected.

The game begins with everyone who's participating being assigned the role either of Villager, Werewolf or Seer. These roles must be kept secret.

The concept is that this is a sleepy village somewhere in the highlands -- or, perhaps, whenever people imagine it being. This village is inhabited by a small group of isolated villagers who all, more or less, know each other. It is also overrun by werewolves. Each night, the werewolves devour a villager. Each morning, the villagers lynch someone in the town. It goes on until either all the werewolves are dead, or the werewolves match the villagers in number...

The game is played in day and night cycles.

• Night Cycles -- Each Night cycle will last for one day, OOC, or until all werewolves have sent in their votes, whichever is shorter. During the night, all the participants who are werewolves will be PMed and asked who among the villagers they'd like to 'kill'. None know who the others are, in order to preserve the secrecy of the game. If they all vote for different people, the moderator will randomize between them.
  
  The Seer is also PMed, and this person can ask about one other participant, to find out if they are a werewolf or a villager.
  
  
• Day Cycles -- Each Day cycle will last for two days, OOC. Day starts with the victim being announced. The poor soul then gets an opportunity to act out a dramatic death scene, and are out of the game. They can no longer participate in any way except as a silent bystander.
  
  After the victim dies, everyone else -- villagers and secret werewolves/seer alike -- decide to lynch someone. They must kill someone else in the group. They all talk in the game thread about who they want to kill, and then vote on who they want to take out, hoping that it will be a werewolf. The person lynched is then removed from a game -- again, with a dramatic death acted out if they'd like. They can no longer participate in any way except as a silent bystander.
  
  At this point, Night starts again, and it repeats until either all the werewolves are killed or the number of werewolves equals the number of remaining villagers.

Zac wandered into the common room grabbed up a piece of cheep greasy pizza, a beer and a seat on the floor. He knew darned well that Ever didn’t care about ID’s, and they had shared enough alcohol in their own apartment that a beer over pizza wasn’t going to end the world.

“Who wants to make bets on if there will be any left over pizza.” He said idly and took another bite, reaching out a foot and pushing at Ever’s shin.

“SO… this should be interesting.” He nodded. “Do you think they’ll all come?” He tipped his head and wondered quietly how many of them would recognize him out of uniform.

He tipped over and lay down on the floor watching the door, considering. “Also… I assume that there is a –reason- you have the only chair. I should toss you out of it… but maybe I’ll just make you pay for that later. He flashed a moment’s wicked glance before settling back to the pizza and beer.

It wasn't that Vanya didn't socialize out of uniform, she just--didn't really socialize out of uniform. She liked being a homebody, sitting at home, all safe and free of people who might recognize her for whoever she'd been. Whoever she was originally. But she'd gotten an invitation, and Zinkenite had told her where she ought to go, and she thought--she thought maybe he'd be disappointed if she didn't show up? And disappointing one of her direct superiors like that didn't seem like the best idea.

So she got dressed and she left the house (with a note to her current host detailing where she'd gone). She found the right building and she let herself in (like she'd been told to do), and--there were two strangers, and she could only assume they were also officers of the Negaverse, like she was. "Um, hi," she said to the two men, and immediately thought, did no one teach you better than that? The answer was, of course, yes.

It looked like Vanya was one of the first ones there. She settled uncertainly on a cushion, empty hands vises over her knees, back ramrod straight. Maybe she'd see someone she knew soon. Hopefully.

Suri had never really been a party-goer before her draft into the Negaverse: school, work, or some other obligation had always gotten in the way of her having a social life. Even at first, she had been so gung-ho to please her superior officers that the Negaverse came first and all else second, leaving her not much room to actually socialize with her peers. However, she had finally relented her anti-social ways when she realized that she would make a better officer if she worked to learn about her peers, and when the invitation came for some Halloween party, she ran out of reasons to refuse.

Besides, Zac would be there. She had to put forward her best for the General-King, who she hadn't seen in months on account of her assignments out of town.

The science teacher wore a simple costume, thrown together at the last second. She wore a knee-length black A-line dress with starry stockings and a wide-brimmed witch hat, matching with an appropriate Chococat purse. The outfit was festive, if minimally so, and Suri had gone so far as to actually wear some green eye-shadow to add to the 'witchy' effect. Armed with two six-packs of spiced pumpkin cider (Halloween wasn't complete without it), she stepped quietly into the living room, taking quick inventory of those present. Some familiar faces, some new, though it was hard to tell how long any of them had been in the Negaverse. The cute bluenette near Zac could be Laurelite, for all she knew.

It was best to be polite at all times, just in case. She waved to the general crowd before addressing Ever, who seemed to be head honcho for the moment. "Is there anywhere in particular I should put these?" she asked, holding up one cardboard carton. The one nice thing about the Negaverse lately is that its ranks were filling out with more adult types. Perhaps, for once, Suri wouldn't have to feel like the oldest one in the room.

The woman's eyes settled on the stiff-looking newcomer, and after a moment of sizing her up, she placed her purse on the cushion close to hers, leaving a seat open in between the two case she had company waiting. Perhaps they could be kindred spirits in stiffness.

Vanya waved back to the bluenette--who had to be high ranking, look how comfortable she was around the two men. It was a stiff little tock-tock of a wave, but it was still some motion, and Vanya felt a little more confident for the motion. There, see? She'd totally socialized. Body language conversation wasn't that different from actual conversation, right?

She did not think she'd be dispensing advice to the trio across the room on proper footwear. She rather thought she'd try to stay as low as possible, in case she turned out to be taller than white-haired Ever when she stood. (It was awkward, being as tall as she was.) Vanya tucked her hands together and tried not to look too anxious, but--

A woman came to sit by her, dressed as a witch (the green eyeshadow was the giveaway). Vanya had a moment of anxiety. Had she been meant to dress up? It was Halloween, but--Vanya hated wearing costumes. It seemed undignified! The next man to come in wasn't dressed in costume, though, and that weighted everything slightly in favor of not-dressing-up-except-nicely. Like a work icebreaker event. Which this was.

Vanya exhaled, a little relieved, and her shoulders relaxed just a tad. "Um," she started, her attention half on the woman (Suri?) and half on the man. Then she realized they might not even want to talk to her, but--she was here to meet people. She squared her shoulders again and tried to put a little confidence into her voice. "I'm Vanya. I guess the two of you know each other?"

He gave a familiar nod and a small smile to Vanya when she arrived, “Glad to see you came Vanya, sit down, and relax.” He said trying to get her to remember that they were not in uniform. Though to be fair he could see the chance for a great deal of kinship between her and Suri.

“HEY!” He protested when Lina snatched his drink out of his hand. “You could have taken one of your own.” He scowled though he wasn’t truly frustrated, just lightly irritated at the idea.
He clicked disapproval with his tongue and took another bite of pizza before Suri herself actually arrived.

He waved and swallowed the pizza a touch faster than he had intended. “Good to see you again, I hear that your work out of town went well.” He stood and moved to help find a place for the Pumpkin Cider, if only so that he could take one out of curiosity.

“Krishna” He nodded, confirming that he knew the man, though to be fair on another level he knew best whom they were behind the civilian masquerades they each wore. Civilian lives were something more of a mystery.

“… the temptation to take the chair after that threat is surprisingly high.” He admitted to Lina.

Lena talked like a magpie in spring with Avery, it was true. Yet despite her tendency to chatter no one could accuse the bluenette of being less than vigilant about her audience. The Negaverse Who's Who was never discussed in the presence of anyone that had their identity in question. Avery as Thyone, Idris as Albali, and Kess as well though she hardly needed the telling. Certainly she wasn't going to feel guilty about it; Zac knew who they all were anyway, same as Kess.

Passing the beer back to the man in question, her smile was bright and wicked as always. "Of course I could have gotten my own, but where's the fun in that? Plus then I would've had to drink the whole nasty thing by myself. Have you tasted this? Or are you just burying it in pizza." Fingers plucked a stray pepperoni off his plate, helping herself to that as well. His stray comment about the chair touched a mind that was already fully engaged in thought of how to properly stage a coup of the chair. "I am pretty sure I was just dared to do it. How terribly unwise." Rising to her feet, determined to plop her bottom straight on the forbidden territory, Lena was immediately sidelined by the stacked councilwoman.

Avery's mention of seeing her wiggle into a window earned a shout of laughter and her gift of vodka earned her a smacking kiss on the mouth. "Avery, I think it's finally happened. I'm in love. I mean it'll probably be one of those midnight Cinderella things but tonight I'm your prince." Taking the drink, sipping delicately, she sighed like she'd been parched with thirst. "Yep, best glass slipper." Looking back over towards Zac, seeing the empty chair, her eyes lit up with dangerous amounts of glee. "C'mon princess, I have a throne for you." Snagging Ave by the hand the captain led her to the chair with a flourish of sweater as it was passed off blindly towards the General-King. For herself, she simply leaned against it and took another drink, let out another sigh of contentment.

"I am so glad you're here."