[hr][center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjk2LmE5YTlhOS5SWHB5WVNCV1lXNWlkWEpsYmcsLC4w/the-skytripe.regular.webp[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/jXKuaLI.png[/img][/center] [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Anya [@Fernstone]
 [code]The Halloween Festival: Money Making Area[/code][/right][hr]

Ezra politely stubbed out his cigarette on the bottom of his polished shoe as he clocked Anya’s approach. He kept the butt of the cigarette pinched between his fingers instead of just littering on the ground. He gave Anya a polite smile, one that did not waiver even as the woman started to make excuses for her friend and further wasted his time. If Sloane Faris didn’t want to speak then she didn’t want to speak, it was as simple as that. He knew more than anyone else how nice it was to not speak to people. Besides, getting ignored like he was just some other Joe Schmo was a rarity for Ezra Vanburen. He’d been surprised by it, sure, but it hadn’t annoyed him. If anything had annoyed him it was knowing that what followed would be another round of charades where people  were just needlessly polite to him to protect some kind of fragility they presumed he had, as if he were a Fabergé egg instead of a man who owned several. 

However, this woman was more than just some toady trying to do a quick round of PR to protect her peer. It had been by no accident to mention that she was a businesswoman. Anya had a look in her eye and a rhythm to her speech of someone doing some  advanced mathematics. This wasn’t just a mere bootlicking apology, it was an angle. Ms. Baksh was doing trigonometry. Before she had only had Ezra’s politeness, the kind of unfocused standby state he could exist in while being around people he did not want to deal with, but now she held his actual interest.

So, there were two ways to take what she had said. Either Ezra could take it at face value, shake her hand, and wish her a good night, or he could go with his assumption. He translated what Ms. Baksh had said from the apology that it had appeared as to the offer that it actually was: “I know that woman. You’re wasting your time with her. I am a much better investment.” Perhaps he was just reading into it too much, but he didn’t stay as successful as he was by having bad hunches.  Now all that was needed was to test her mettle. Find out what kind of person she was. 

[color=darkgray]“Please, you can just call me Ezra. Mr. Vanburen was my father,”[/color] said Ezra, offering Anya a handshake. [color=darkgray]“From what I hear Ms. Faris has many difficult nights. I had been hoping to discuss relieving her of some of those burdens, but it appears my timing was off yet again.”[/color]

Sloane’s red hat was vanishing into the crowd.

[color=darkgray]“I would love to hear more about your business, Ms. Baksh,”[/color] said Ezra, eyes following Carmen Sandiego as she made her great escape. [color=darkgray]“I wouldn’t be keeping you from anything, would I?”[/color]

[hr][center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/dHRmLjEwNi4wMDhiOGIuVmtGVFNGUkpJRTVQVlZJLjA/raindrop-splash.regular.webp[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/xer3sr5.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Linqian [@Fernstone] 
[b]Objectifications[/b]: Leon [@AtomicEmperor] Drake[@Punished GN]
[code]Elysian Fields, Cloud Nine. [/code][/right][hr]

Bodies, bodies, bodies were exciting, -citing, -citing!

Soft curves and hard abs slick with sweat. Teeth and nails wet with blood. The deliciously sweet scent of musk. The pervasive and clinging stench of death. A tight, form-fitting sheet awarding those with zero imagination while providing fuel for the future for those who simply have too much but can never get enough. A black, form-covering sheet, rubbernecked by those imagining the possibilities, the casualty of someone who just can never get enough. A writhing mound of flesh, hard to separate where one begins and ends. An mass grave found beneath the floorboards, impossible to tell what belongs to who. 

People were social animals and so was she. 

Until today she didn’t believe in Heaven, but it was real. Turns out it was located between two big hunks of hard iron. Good thing for all those other people. Leon was a killer too but hey, he went to church so that absolves everything right? She was going to become a praying girl again. First prayer: dear god, let his wild side come out tonight. She’d tug his leash, make sure he was a good boy, teach him to roll over and play fetch, then forget about him the second he goes out to play in traffic and gets hit by a freight truck. Just replace him with another dog. Hey, big guy upstairs, ya listening right? Don’t make her fuckstart the apocalypse before they had their own personal rapture. 

God, her thirst was unquenchable. She backed up just a little bit more now that Emily wasn’t on her ass. Hey, what happened to her drink—

[color=darkcyan]“What the fuck, bro?”[/color] whined Vashti as the Chalice was snatched from her hands by Linqian, a splash of wine staining her white toga with droplets of red. Vashti wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out at Linqian, her hands a bit too preoccupied with careful positioning to lash out at her and snap her neck. She didn’t just want “available”—well, she did, obviously, look at him, goddamn—she wanted her dumb, sad muscle boy too. She wanted to make him forget all about his bitch wife, make him get down on his knees, produce a ring with a little bit of grave dirt on it, shit his pants in excitement when she says, “Yes, yes, oh yes, a thousand times yes, bro!”, leave his ass up on the altar, block his number, steal his sweater, and make him sadder than ever. 

Why was that so hard to understand?

She stared at Linqian as she walked away. Then she really started to stare as Linqian began to change. Leon’s dog ears might pick up the high pitch sucking of air as Vashti bit back on her lip. Drake would certainly feel her nails dig into his body. She squirmed between the two strong men, not with the earlier ecstasy but with the panicked determination of a mountain climber who had become wedged between two rocks, in an attempt to escape and pull Linqian into the line beside her but she was stuck. She was stuck. They had caged her in and locked her up with a honeypot of dumb meaty men.

A trickle of thin blood dripped down her lip. 

Or maybe it was just wine.  

[hr] [center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi5kYWE1MjAuVTNWc2JIa2dUV05RYUdWeWMyOXUuMA,,/roughsketch.regular.webp[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/xHVRvPV.png[/img][/center]
[right][b]Interactions: [/b]  Leon (mentioned) [@AtomicEmperor] the 317 [@NoriWasHere] Linqian [@FernStone] Layla [@Estylwen]
[code]Toga Town, USA. The Halloween Festival.[/code][/right][hr]

Sully visibly cringed as the toga-ball spiked Linqian in the face, flopping (he hoped) harmlessly over her head. His passing game had always been a weak point. He mouthed an apology towards Linqian as words were near impossible to hear over the chant that had become like an incantation. It was hypnotic, really, casting a charm over the whole festival and pulling people to it like rats to the piper. It even managed to reach Ares and draw him away from sharpening his swords and fletching his arrows. Leon called out to join the toga line and Sully accepted in response. 

Yet there had been a moment of hesitation. 

In that moment Sully experienced a sudden spike of anxiety, a syringe of adrenaline jabbed straight in the heart that made him feel like his chest was about to explode and filled him with the urge to run away and hide in a toilet somewhere. Here’s the thing: Sully liked Leon, Sully looked up to Leon, at one point Sully probably thought he was in love with Leon before realizing (probably) it was more of an adoration (maybe) than an actual emotional attraction (surely). However, the last person he would want to see him belligerently drunk while sweating through a toga and looking like a stupid fat fuck out of shape piece of shit who thought they could pull off a mustache was Leon. 

However, there was also a troubling thought: what would happen if Sully, the conductor, abandoned the line? Would the charm break and everyone go back to meandering around in their essential worker but sexy costume? Or would the crowd turn and the toga party become a toga travesty? He had to keep going. He had to keep the train on the tracks. He couldn’t let it derail. For the sake of the safety of all of mankind he’d stay. Plus, despite how inferior Leon’s mere existence made him feel he still wanted to see his Big Brother. As long as Leon kept the proselytizing to a minimum and didn’t wolf out Sully was genuinely happy to have him around. 

Unfortunately there would be no moment to catch up and no chance to catch up as more revelers were coming. Linqian had adorned her toga and became—well, honestly, the one semester of Greek Mythology that Sully took in college because it sounded easier than any of the other classes was wearing a little thin. Souvlaki? He was pretty sure Souvlaki was one. Souvlaki was being delivered across the River Styx by Charon the Bee. Meanwhile, a curious pack of muses were arriving to witness the gods. Even the birds had to stop and watch the spectacle. One of the muses stepped forth and asked if they could join.

[color=goldenrod]“Of course, friend! The Toga Line is for all!”[/color] shouted Sully, tossing a toga Alex’s way as well as one towards their towering and very distracting friend that was nearby. Sully wiped his lip with the back of his hand. [i]That guy fucks.[/i] 

There wasn’t really enough of the Chalice to go around at this point. Plus, frankly, he’d kind of lost track of it, but he was sure once it was empty somebody would pass it back up front. Nevertheless, they needed to secure more drinks or cups at the very least. 

[color=goldenrod]“Come little bee! Guide us to the nectar,”[/color] said Sully to Layla, before calling back over his shoulder. [color=goldenrod]“[b]TOGAS! TO THE DRINK LINE! TOGA, TOGA, TOGA![/b]”[/color]

Continuing to drive the line forward, Sully reached out towards Linqian and Layla. Unless Linqian was able to break free, she’d be swung back somewhere to the middle. Layla, meanwhile, would take point in front of Sully and guide their parade, and perhaps serve as a stand-in for Sully when the inevitable call of nature came and he had to slip away to break the seal.