Getting the Party Started

Posted on Thu Oct 30th, 2025 @ 8:01pm by Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Senior Chief Petty Officer C'Hira Summers & Lieutenant Karane Inda & Lieutenant Megosho Gehente & Lieutenant JG Annika Johnson & Lieutenant JG Renata Novotná & Ensign Siat-or-iian Elkovais

1,186 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X05: Nightmare on Ark Royal Street
Location: Lounge
Timeline: SD 8983.3 (31 October 2290, 21:30 hours)

ON

Things were ready for the big night.

The lounge had been shut down all day, by order of the Quartermaster. Fake spiderwebs had been spread throughout. A trio of pumpkins — fresh, brought onto the ship in stasis before they left Spacedock — had been carved into jack’o’lanterns and put on display. A cauldron, bubbling and fogging with practical effect help from Cid, contains a potent punch that swirled green and purple. A variety of horror themed appetizers stood ready for anyone to eat, if anyone could get past their appearance.

The lights had been dimmed. A soundtrack of spooky sounds was playing.

C’Hira Summers looked upon her mighty works and was entirely pleased with herself. She stood proudly in her costume, a pink and purple dress and a very very long blonde wig that (again with Cid’s help) would occasionally glow, and waited for the first guests to arrive.

“What else needs doing?” Emmanuelle came out from a back room, dressed in a long, flowy black dress whose front cut was far lower than was typical for her, a long black wig, and black lipstick. A disembodied hand on her shoulder occasionally wiggled. She brought out another decoration, a vase with flowerless rose stems, and placed in on one of the tables.

“Just greet the guests, nya!” C’Hira said cheerily. “In character, if you want mew.”

That prompted a giggle from Emmanuelle. “Of course, ma chère.”

The door slid open and a snow white bunny walked in, long ears attached to the fox-like ears of Torii even while her tails were bound to each other unnaturally and colored into a white fluff. Her feet were also elongated, with 'sharp' papier-mache claws on the ends. She wore a white bodysuit that went all the way down, with a white tunic and skirt, arm-length sleeves and gloves with the tip of her nose painted black. She twitched that nose as she walked in, "Oh... I was expecting a bit of snow going on here."

Annika stepped through the doors next dressed in a black and red female vampire outfit based on one of her favourite cartoon characters from Scooby Doo, the Hex girls. For the moment she was wearing fake vampire teeth, but she wasn’t sure how long she’d manage to keep them in for. She wondered how long it would take Cas to catch her up, last she saw him he was still deciding on his costume.

Holding a bicorn hat stiffly under one arm, Meg stepped through the door. Her attire for the night was an historically accurate recreation of the Emperor Napoleon's uniform. She adored the contrasting blues, reds and whites of the uniform, and had been itching to try it out for a while. As she made her way towards the cauldron of punch, she spotted Torii and squealed, 'by the fates, but you look adorable!'

"Adorable?" Torii's eyes widened as she heard what Meg was saying, "No, no, no, I dressed up as the scariest thing I could think of!" She looked at the sleeves and twitched her ears, the bunny ears wobbling around theatrically, "You're looking at one of the apex predators of Feixeia! These things used to prey on us back in the real olden days, and they'd come out of nowhere!"

'I'm sorry,' Meg replied, nose crinkling in delight, 'this is the most terrifying thing from your homeworld?' She held a hand to her face as she chuckled, 'I mean, I might die from the sheer wattage of cuteness radiating from you right now, but I can't quite believe that it's that terrifying.'

Torii grabbed one of Meg's hands and began to drag her over to one of the displays in the lounge and punched in a few commands, scrolling down past a few entries to a picture of the bunny-like creature sitting in the center of the image, clearly larger than the Earth variety given the rocks that were there. "They're about as big as me, sharp claws on their feet! And really sharp teeth!"

Shooting the security officer some side eye, Meg sighed, and said, 'look Torii, I get they're big, but c'mon. C'mon. You're having me one, aren't you?'

"Just wait." Torii scrolled down to the next picture, which showed the bunny with the mouth open, but it seemed to open in every direction at once, a mouth full of sharp teeth from all sides and a clear view of the second and third rows of teeth situated further in the mouth, "They can take an arm off if they bite it, terrifying!"

Wincing and recoiling slightly, Meg let out a soft eww before leaning in, morbidly fascinated by the creature. 'I don't think that bunny eats carrots,' she said in a low voice. 'I can see why you think they're terrifying, Torii. What are they called?'

“Tchachi, that’s what they’re called…” Torii shuddered at the memory of seeing some in a zoo on Feixeia, “They tend to live in arid areas, like deserts, mountains, immune to the cold or the heat, and they move FAST. It’s almost pointless to try to run from them, they’ll catch you.”

"Best not spend much time near the house I grew up in, nya," C'Hira said. "Nearly identical creatures on meowr lawn every spring and fall at twilight. They're how I learned to hunt, nya. Punch, anyone?"

"Then I gotta come over and get some revenge. And I'll take some!" Torii cheered.

Annika was looking at the food offering, taking a cheeky nibble from one of the platters as she waited for the party to start. She wasn’t really finding things spooky, it was entertaining enough, a chance to dress up and have fun, but that was all.

"Boo!" Emmanuelle said, sneaking up behind the Counselor.

Annika flinched slightly. “Boo to you too!” She grinned. “Sorry I sensed you coming, you can’t creep up on an empath.”

The doors opened and in walked an unusual sight. The ships chief engineer dressed in a ripped white collared shirt that she had evidently attacked with scissors. Along with a similarly attacked pleated skirt. She had used makeup to emulate wounds along her arms, face, stomach and legs. Her clothing was also splattered with fake blood and her hair was messy and dirty. Any good engineer would recognize her usage of engine grease she had acquired from the Ark Royal's engine room.

"So this the Halloween party huh?" she said as she looked around.

Renata walked into the lounge, dressed up as a large pumpkin with the number 3,14 written on her chest. She felt this costume idea blended science, awful word jokes, and Halloween perfectly. "Sorry for being awfully late" she said as she went to find some beer or at least something drinkable, and someone she could socialize with.

It was an excellent start to what would become a Halloween night none of them would ever forget.

To Be Continued...

 

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