exsiliumlogs | [ OPEN ] That haunted house was our tunnel of love.

Date & Time: After dinnertime on October 31 (forward-dated)
Location: Cafeteria
Characters: OPEN!
Summary: As mentioned here, it's half a cookie-baking party and half a Halloween celebration.
Warnings: Warnings in subject lines if necessary (???)
Notes: Party-style! Just tag in and tag around. And don't cause too much trouble or you'll be, um, escorted out.

[For anyone who's been at any of the previous baking sessions, the setup is much the same, only larger in scale now that they're in a cafeteria instead of Unit 409's kitchen. Supplies and ingredients are everywhere, including food dye, nuts, sprinkles, and frosting. Anyone who's new at this will at least have gotten five minutes of instruction from Jesse, though the recipe is written and on display for anyone who's forgotten details. It's all very simple and easy-to-understand, because your host is also very simple and easy-to-understand. How exactly you decide to flavor and decorate the cookies is left up to you.

The cafeteria itself has been livened up with Halloween decorations. Snacks have been provided so the party-goers don't end up eating all the cookies meant for newcomers. And there's music! Some of it appropriately themed, some of it the hip hop and dubstep that can typically be found on Jesse's iPod. The atmosphere is relaxed and people can be expected to make a mess.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jesse's recipe is pretty good.

[She sounds fond; despite knowing it's probably going to get her killed one day, she really does like Jesse.]

Orange could work, or - hey, we could do spiderwebs on 'em.

[That's totally Halloween themed, considering the spiderwebs drawn in eyeliner at the corner's of her eyes.]

[Caspian's noticed the spiderwebs - he thinks it's very clever done on her eyes. Although he still doesn't get Halloween.]

Is that what Halloween is? A celebration of spiders... and orange?

Oh, and I'm Caspian, by the way. [He'd offer to shake hands, but his are rather floury. So he settles for a quick bow instead.]

Of scary things, the orange comes from pumpkins, which we carve into jack-o-lanterns.

[Which isn't really an accurate explanation, but she can give the detailed one if he really wants it.

The bow gets a smile and a soft laugh, not meanly, she just thinks it's sweet, especially because she wouldn't have minded about floury hands.]

Steph. [She curtseys in return, a playful sort of gesture.] Nice to meet you, Caspian.

Ah! Scary things! [Suddenly some of the costumes and decorations make a bit more sense.] And you celebrate with scary kinds of foods? Then yes, we must decorate the cookies with spiderwebs.

[Bowing is more natural for him in any case, but he's noticed that most people here prefer to shake hands. But her curtsey delights him.]

It's a pleasure, Steph.

Pretty much, it's a shame we can't really go all out with decorations and costumes and stuff.

[Halloween has always been a holiday she's fond of, because it's tailored for kids. It didn't matter all that much when her parents didn't think about it.]

Wanna go see if we can find some piping bags and the right colored frosting?

[Harrassing Ellie can wait; she's trying to be friendly to everyone tonight, so she'll help Caspian out for a little while.]

Do people dress up as spiders and monsters and ghosts? Or as all manner of things?

[Oh help is very good! He appreciates it!]

Yes, let's. I admit, I was not sure how to do the frosting.

All sorts of things. A lot of it's scary stuff, but some people go for dressing as famous people or fictional characters or things like that.

[There's also the "slutty Halloween costumes" but she's not even sure how to start explaining that.]

Carefully. [That's how you do the frosting.

Steph stop being a little shit.]

So it could be a costume of anything you're not, then?[The concept of "slutty Halloween costumes" would totally blow his mind.

He blinks, and then gets it and laughs. Okay, frosting jokes are hilarious to him.

Good to know!

And generally something easy to recognize, it's no fun if you spend half the night explaining yourself.

[No Caspian don't laugh at her terrible jokes.

But for reals, she's going to head over to where the frosting's been set out, assuming Caspian will keep up.

There's white and black frosting, but no piping bags, so Steph just digs out a small, clean plastic bag and a pair of scissors.

She'll cut the corner of the bag off once the frosting is inside.

~Improvisation~]

[Nods at that; will consider it if he does decide to find a costume for himself, although what he'll consider easily recognizable might not pass for anyone else.

He watches her working with the frosting, and mimics her.] Oh, so we'll squeeze the frosting on the cookies with this, I see.

[Once they've got everything sorted, she starts with a bottom layer of white frosting, before - yep, cutting the corner off the bag and drawing on a slightly messy spiderweb.]

Yup. Piping bags would be easier, but sometimes you've gotta improvise.

[If nothing else, that's something she can manage.]

[He watches her for a moment with the frosting to get the idea, then starts piping on spiderwebs, concentrating happily, as he's got a bit of an artistic bent.]

Yes, most things here seem to be improvised.

[Improvisation has become second nature to him during the last couple of years - working out the logistics of bringing together two very separate people in one nation has given him lots of opportunities to think on his feet, and he's discovered things go a lot easier when you don't expect anything to go as planned.]

Do you bake cookies every month?

[Her artistic skills mostly involve drawing silly doodles, but w/e]

We do, yeah. Jesse's been running it for like... at least a year now, I think? Though I only got involved a couple months ago.

[After Walt disappeared and Jesse kind of lost his shit for a while.

She can't believe how long ago it was.]

[He's adding tiny spiders on a few of his webs.]

I like it. I have never made cookies before, but it's fun. And it's a nice thing to do for new people. Jesse must have a good heart. [He doesn't really know Jesse, but someone who would come up with this must be a good person.]

It's a good way to get everyone together.

[Which is the first time she's thought of it like that; usually she just considers what they're doing for the newbies, but it also helps to keep them friendly with each other.]

And he does, yeah. He looks a bit rough around the edges, but he wants to help people.

[A good heart is an easier compliment to agree with than he's a good man, because she knows it's true, while she's still not sure of the latter.]

[ OPEN ] That haunted house was our tunnel of love.

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