It was the perfect Halloween night.

Mashups of classically Halloween and recent songs put to darker tones rang out from Castle Gould. There in one large dining hall was set the gothic place settings for guests to enjoy deliciously wicked treats. Heavy black curtains hung low as spider webs stretched between the chandeliers. Two large bars made up like an alchemist’s lab in the central lobby served adults glowing, smoking libations of a dangerous sort. A deep orange red glow emanated from the DJ’s stage and the smoky, wafting false flames of the Hellish theme at the dance hall.

Outside guests wandered to see the decorated grounds, teaming with Jack O Lanterns, skeletal remains, and actors hidden in not so innocent statues of various monsters! Many took their turn in the Mad Hatter’s Maze! A deranged crew of Lewis Carroll’s favorite characters chased / helped you through the long, winding attraction! Twinkling violet lights, looming gargoyles, and hidden secrets awaited you in the hedge.

Evil knights warred outside the Hempstead estate as a foul King ushered you into his realm: explore the richly designed but terribly haunted house! A bedroom held the Queen’s ghost and the tower was the playground of the evil warlock! Every room was cleverly crafted as you wove your way through tricks, devilish actors, and even the occasional treat. At the end of the spooky walk through was another hall made up for the King’s throne room complete with servants offering wine, mead, and finger foods. But watch out for that basement torture chamber, filled with history and danger!

Many had worked hard for this and all deserved the fun. The Haven organization, the city, various contributors, and many volunteers had worked diligently for two days after weeks of preparation, invites, vetting visitors, setting up with vendors, ensuring security, and of course decorating… Devon was certain not to let the night be ruined by bad weather. Oh no.

The last few days he’d done a few trips around the city, the island, Connecticut, and even at great risk… Jersey. Tempest had been influencing the developing weather patterns, manipulating the jet stream, and encouraging away the humid, warm air that was lingering. Tonight there was cool, autumnal temperatures, the faintest breeze, and a smattering of clouds to play over the moon.

You couldn’t deny the bewitching weather. People giggled, howled, cackled, and screamed as they dashed through the maze. Groups chased, couples snuck kisses, and the occasional grunt of a monster trudged between the bushes. Spectators watched from the raised seating but the Red Queen waved her heart-topped rod at anyone who dared tried to assist those within. The jabberwocky snarled and smoke left its nostrils as it chased a group of co-eds below.

((OOC if you need a reference for the costume, google Golden Knight GARO. It’s a Japanese TV show about a man who fights evil demons in a shiny golden lion suit, and has a snarky talking skull ring. garo.wikia.com/wiki/Garo For reference!))

Part of Shin really wanted to chase the horror that was the Jabberwocky, if only to get into character. Like most Super Nerds, He was into role playing and cosplay. He went to conventions, and even used his mutant power to replicate intricate outfits from his favorite shows.

He’d chosen Golden Knight GARO for this night. His shard armor had recreated the television character with great care. It’s golden armor gleamed in the light, a heavy plate affair with a lion-like face guard full of teeth, with a spiked mane. The shoulder pauldrons swept out, majestically. And the sword, the massive sword, black and gold and long as the night... was spray painted foam prop quality, because bringing real weapons to high profile parties is wrong. Technically, everything he made with his mind could be a weapon... but don’t tell security that or he’d never get to go anywhere.

He walked the maze, near the entrance. Going to Haven’s party had been all about meeting and building relationships between the x-men and others in the city. At least, that was why the mansion had footed the bill for Shin’s ticket. And his presence was all about promoting the mansion, too, since he taught there. And promoting a school is better PR than promoting a paramilitary group. But whatever. Labels, always with the labels. The party itself had been all about fun!

In full costume, he felt like a diamond-plated badass. The weather was great. People were having fun. It boded well for the rest of the night. This Makai knight wanted to have fun.

Meanwhile, deeper into the maze, in a slightly more open area full of few statues Luke was having the time of his life. The only hard part was sitting still.

Haven had been doing a lot more stuff with the X-Men of late, and since the wildfire control Luke had been happy to help out. From what he could tell they were decent folks and this kind of thing was just nice to have in general. It didn't need some ham-fisted moral to be fun, and if people could have fun with people who were mutants, that just made it easier to get along.

Then again he was just having fun jumping out at people.

There were four little 'bulges' in this part of the path, each with three statues; the second and third (he was in the former) had real people, though. Luke was in the second, and there were two girls and a boy in the third. They were tasked with doing exactly what you'd expect people on pedestals pretending to be statues on Halloween did; jump at folks.

Admittedly, he was probably in the minority of people with visible mutations who weren't too self-conscious about it. People staring made him uncomfortable, sure, but for the most part he was pretty okay with being the werewolf dude and knowing it. It made events like this a great opportunity as well; he didn't need a bulky outfit or cheesy mask or anything. He had fake blood splattered on his shoulder and face fur and the bottom half of a too-small thrift store shirt torn off, baring his midriff. The blood was going to be a nightmare to scrub out, but that was a fine price to pay for this.

He'd gotten into a decent rhythm with this; sometimes, the first person walking through would get a lunge and a growl, other times he'd go at the person at the back. He could make very convincing wolf sounds--howling, growling, snarls, and so on--which was a logical but convenient skill. Every so often he let people pass, then when they got to the three ahead he'd sneak up behind them and loom menacingly. The trio were really great about doing that; they were wearing face paints and looked like huge, creepy dolls, and somehow their eyes were just not right. When the 'victims' recoiled from their cackling, the three would 'notice' him and cower. When the group turned around, they saw him and he'd snarl and they'd always flip out.

It was fantastic. The only problem was when there was a lull, the anticipation of trying to stay still on his haunches made him antsy. And the time someone punched him in the face. Luke probably gotten a little too close to let them do that, and the organizers had made it clear that it was a risk sometimes. It was fine though; he was super-tough, so he made a little show of flinching and then baring his teeth at the guy, who ran screaming back to his group. He grinned and gave them a thumbs-up. They liked that.

All in all, this was a great way to spend his night. At the moment, he was returning to his pedestal from sneaking up on the previous group, when the sound of startled gasping caught his attention. Another group, a pair of men and a woman, had come down the path and seen him on all fours right in front of the short platform. There was a brief pause, before Luke hopped back up, sad down, and stood still, eyes closed.

He listened as their nervous laughter died down and, as soon as he heard them try to shuffle past him, he opened his eyes and feigned a lunge at the woman in the back. Her scream was piercing, and kind of painful, but as the three ran screaming and laughing forward, he laughed anyway.

Minor incidents aside, things were going well. The night was still young, and Luke was looking forward to a great one.

Without warning a blaring white light spider webbed shot over the grounds, through branches, between bushes, and into the darkness of the night. It shone blindingly bright before suddenly ending. In its wake people screamed, shouted, howled, ran, and laughed.

The jabberwocky roared in mighty fervor now giving chase to a large white rabbit and a strangely striped large cat man. A ninja climbed the hedge and dashed toward a copse of trees. A scuba diver looked around in confusion.

The jabberwocky roared once again.

((OOC: Yes, that's right! Not only is your mind like that of your costume, but so too had your physical body morphed! Note this does not grant any new abilities save for possible survival of exposed organs if a zombie, limited ability to walk through walls as a ghost, etc.))

The maze was great. Loads of character, plenty of small groups of people wandering around, and spooky scary and thematic decor by the truckload. He’d been walking for a while before the spider web of light caught everything in its snare of illumination.

On a normal night, a bright web of light would have caused the X to launch into full investigation mode. What was the cause? Why? Where had the point of origination been? Who, what, when, where, why? You know, all the classics. As a makai knight whose job it was to find and slay creatures of the darkness... the gut instinct had not really changed all that much. With the exception that he was now talking to a small black ring with a demonic-looking skull on it, on his hand.

The ring was part of the costume, obviously. He’d gotten it from a costume jeweler. It was made of a black metal of some sort. It did not actually talk. Not in a voice any person nearby might hear, anyways. Any sane person. On the show, yeah. It would have been audible. But in real life? The responding voice was all in his head. Whose head? Why, Saejima Kouga, of course! GARO.

”Zaruba. You saw the light?” he asked.

The reply was snarky, in his head. A ‘yeah, I saw the light, idiot’ sort of reply.

Kouga was unfazed. ”What sort of horror could have made such a thing?”

He continued talking to himself as he went through an ivy-covered gate in the hedges, and entered an area full of statues.

In the distance, there was another roar from some horror of a beast. The same beast who had caused the light? Maybe. Kouga did not know.

He rested his gold and black sword against his shoulder, and glanced around.

If Luke had been capable of the requisite thinking, he'd be absolutely mortified at this turn of events. In a cruel irony, his worst fear had a tendency to be realized without him even noticing.

As it was, his conscious mind was broken down almost instantly at the flash of light, and as it faded he jumped down from the stone-painted wooden block, rearing back and howling skyward. A warning to any who intruded on his hunt, and a challenge to his would-be prey. The hunt was on.

To an observer unfamiliar with him, Luke wasn't that different-looking, though whose blood was now smeared on his face was probably best left unanswered. However, he'd certainly changed; already a well-build young man, his shoulders were now even broader, his body stooped over, favoring quadrupedal movement far more than usual. His eyes glowed dimly red, with no visible pupil, and his fur was scraggly and matted, distinct from his usual self-conscious cleanliness.

Of course, looking at the poor boy's expression as he tore snarling through the maze made it all too clear he wasn't in his right mind. Lips curled back, spittle dripping from his exposed fangs, brow contorted in rage, he was the picture of a monster movie poster.

Internally, he wasn't much more recognizable. Though his senses remained keenly aware of his environment, his pauses to look around or sniff the air were only briefly considered, then forgotten as soon as he determined the direction of the nearest-smelling prey. The only thing on his mind for more than a moment was hunger; partly physical desire to feed, but also a more visceral, aptly-primal need to chase something down. Honestly he wasn't even thinking of anything after that, even if he'd kill or eat his capture if given a chance.

As soon as the werewolf came tearing out of the entrance to the maze, he spied quarry; a man he might otherwise have fondly recognized as his teacher. They were shiny and had a beast's face, but he could smell their humanity. Still, feral as he was, he wasn't stupid, so he rose up on his back legs and bared his teeth threateningly. If he got an opening, he'd strike, but he'd prefer to find a softer target without all that metallic covering.

He edged slowly to the right, readying to run or fight without being cornered back into the hedges.

‘Must have been the wind,’ he mentally added commentary from his skull ring. Kouga turned back the way he’d come, headed towards the exit. He took a few wrong turns along the way, and Zaruba the ring chided him. Eventually, he made it to the entrance. That was right about the time the horror arrived. It came from behind.

It was sheer luck they hadn’t met in the maze. Whatever turns they’d taken, the knight had missed the feral beast. He’d gone from an area with statues, all the way back to the entrance, and they hadn’t encountered each other at all.

‘Lucky...’ The ring “said.”

It was probably bad that Shin was talking to himself, but how else would he have ever kept in-character? ”Not lucky for the horror.” He said, to himself. Louder, and to the beast Kouga stated: ”You’re a big one. Whose blood is that around your mouth?”

He wasn’t usually one for battle banter. Usually, once the armor was on it was ‘fight, fight, fight!’ Like there was some sort of timer. Which there usually was... 99.9 seconds, or close to it. Yet here he was, still in his armor. Strange. It really ought to fall off already. He dismissed the thought for the moment, and drew a circle in the air with his blade. No rasp of steel or glow. Even stranger...

As usual, Ty found herself late to the party. Dressed in a costume she deemed appropriate, she finally made her way to the maze, just as the web of light cascaded over the area. She walked through the maze, the buzzing of objects ringing in her ears as always.

But suddenly....something hit her. Her lamp! Where was her lamp?!? She was powerless without it! Or if the wrong person had gotten their hands on it...that could be bad. Her movements became more frantic as she ran deeper into the maze, looking around, listening for the murmur of her lamp.

She bit her lip as her eyes scanned the area, looking at the scene ahead of her as a...strange knight confronted a werewolf? But it didn't seem as though either of them had her lamp, either...

The shiny human wasn't scared-looking, not at all. The werewolf's inclination was to fight, assert his power over softer things, even when they had hard outside bits to protect them. The problem was, it was early, and while he was eager to flex his muscles and test his claws, there was time to go before dawn, and he didn't want to tire himself out too early.

But, given the shiny person was waving around his shiny stick like that, he probably wasn't too good with it. He was probably easy prey, a warmup really, before a more satisfying hunt came along. Grinning savagely, the werewolf drew towards the human, curling and uncurling his claws.

The sound of nearby movement, though, reached his ear and caught his attention for a moment. A female, covered in frilly pink cloth of some kind, had moved near the entrance of the maze to his left. If the shiny one wasn't worth the effort, the frilly pink one would be a more fun chase as she screamed...

"Rah!" The werewolf barked loudly at the girl and lunged forward with his claws out, but didn't move from his spot. Instead, as soon as he did, banking on her reaction to startle the shiny one, he leapt forward with fangs bared and claws outstretched, taking two strides on all fours before rearing up to slash at the shiny one's fake shiny face.

The feint had worked. ‘If you can call it that...’ Zaruba the ring chimed in, in Kouga’s mind. When the wolf man barked and made as if to strike the woman who’d suddenly stumbled onto the scene, Kouga moved on instinct to shield the woman with an outstretched blade.

He suddenly had flashbacks to the other woman. The one who he’d protected, but who had unfortunately been splattered with Horror Blood. Blood that would draw Horrors towards her, like a shark to chum. Live Bait. That had been a bad move on his part, yeah? And sloppy.

Kaoru... he wondered where she was. Probably at home, with his butler. Drinking tea and painting. Unless she’d gone back to Italy. Seriously, Italy. He couldn’t remember, which was probably a bad thing to say about his status as a boyfriend. All this flashed through his mind in the moment it took to mentally change gears. Constantly fighting monsters really does wonders for one’s reaction times.

His blade was at an angle, thrust out between the woman and the anticipated strike. He held it in both hands, but rapidly shifted one hand up and away to interpose it between the strike and his face. The black and gold sword swung down to his side as he moved, as if propelled by its great weight.

One claw raked against his raised forearm, leaving jagged marks. The strike sent the arm to one side, and left him open as the other arm came down on an unguarded face. The second blow sent him sailing backwards a step and a half. Any False bravado Kouga May have been feeling dried up like a puddle at midday.

The sword dig into the ground as the golden lion knight, GARO, rested on one knee. His gauntlet was scratched, and a furrow had been carved in one cheek of his helm. The edges were strange, almost geometric, like a stone that had been chipped away. Angular and smooth, rather than torn.

“Are you okay, Miss?” a voice asked.

The golden knight was kneeling in front of the woman, blade in the ground as he faced the beast... but it wasn’t him who had spoken. It was the black demonic-looking skull ring on the man’s hand. Whatever magic had enchanted everyone to act like their costumes, it had finally gone the extra mile to bring the piece of costume jewelry to life outside the Asians head.

The ring winked. It’s mouth moved as it said: “This will all be over in a moment, Miss. He’s a bit rusty, is all. Too much time with his artist, you see?”

GARO growled.

“Oy, oy! There’s no need for that!” The ring complained. GARO pointedly ignored the ring as he charged.

One swift strike ought to do it. He brought his blade up and down over the monster’s head. The blade snapped neatly in two.

“Hey, Hey, Hey!” The ring shouted. “What happened?!”

The sword was made of foam. No amount of reality altering magic could change that.

((OOC: Somewhere in the maze, a person dressed as an aging Game Show host played the famous sound of failure loud enough for the whole maze to hear. Womp womp. But this was just for the narrator and the audience to hear. It didn’t break the fourth wall.


Luke, you have permission to hit Shin with all you got. Just remember, shard armors hard so hitting it feels like striking armor! ))

Ty honestly didn't know what she'd stumbled upon, but she knew it could get bad quickly, so maybe it'd be a good idea if she just slowly backed away and checked for her bottle somewhere else and--

"Ah!" she screamed as the wolfman fake-lunged at her, and she found herself cowering just a bit. No lamp meant no magic, after all. As it stood, she was about as good as your run of the mill...human. Despite the slight murmurings of nearby objects...but those really couldn't help her here, could they? Definitely not.

Managing to focus on the situation, she noticed a knight was knelt in front of her and...someone....was checking on her? "Oh, I'll be okay...I think," she said softly, biting her lip a little, her heart still pounding in her chest but her legs didn't seem to be getting the memo from her brain to 'GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!'

And so she stood, frozen, eyes glued on the scene before her.

The shiny one's talking was annoying and constant. Better was the satisfying crumbling of the shiny man's arm and face bits, Luke's claws shedding crumbs from it like the bark of a tree.

The pink one was screaming too, but Luke's gaze went down to the new talking coming from the shiny one. Something on his arm was talking now. That was annoying. He wanted to break the talking thing.

As returned his gaze to the shiny one, a dull thump registered at the soft blade bonked him between the ear, snapping in half with the blade falling behind him. There was a brief, pregnant pause as Luke looked at the broken blade, then up at the shiny man.

He grinned, teeth bared, epitomizing a predatory sneer.

First, he raked his left claws across the shiny man's talking arm, aiming at the ring that was annoying him by talking so much. Then he swung his right arm, slamming his claws across the shiny mask in a downward arc. Then he lunged forward, driving a brutal headbutt into Shin's chest.

"Argh! Rahh...urgh..." A snarl of triumph quickly degraded into a woozy groan. Shin's armor was hard indeed, and this was not a normal maneuver for Luke; in his feral state, he'd lost sense of his own limits, and that he wasn't totally immune to blunt trauma. So the impact caught him off-guard in a painful way.

Luke took a stumbling step back, hands on his forehead, growling and shaking himself in anger, the brief stunning giving way to even greater fury.

Bits of golden armor were torn away as the claws raked at him, only to vanish in the air with a glitter and a tinkle like breaking glass a moment later. The ring escaped destruction by the barest margin as GARO whipped his arm away. That barest of margins? It flew off the hand in what almost seemed an attempt to save its own metaphorical neck. It hit the ground beside the woman in pink with a plink, plink, plink.

One of his arms already had a jagged slash across it. His other arm, the one that had worn the black skull ring, joined it in the zigzag of destruction department. That one was missing more gold than the last, and there were places where bare skin peeked out. Kouga didn’t have time to muse on that, though. The wolf horror’s follow up was significant.

The downward slash drove the golden helm down to point at the ground. One of its ears simply snapped off. He felt it in the back of his mind, like a sudden jolt of light and pain— something to add to the dull throb of pain already present for him. The psychic backlash quickly racking up from destroyed bits of his armor.

Something cracked in his chest as the beast crashed into him. The horror got as good as he gave, because bashing your head into a solid surface hurts... but Kouga still got sent stumbling several feet back to land at the woman’s side. Again, he dropped to one knee. This was starting to become a recurring thing for him.

Kouga shook his head to clear it.

“He’s fast,” Zaruba the ring commented, from the ground by the woman’s feet. “You should really try to avoid those claws, you know? He’s making you look like a fool.”

‘Enough,’ Kouga thought. ‘Enough with the damned commentary.’

One gauntlet was scarred with a jagged line, another was cut deeper. The trench extended down the arm, to reveal bare flesh. Claw marks had gouged furrows down his helm. An ear was missing. The left ear. Through the hole in the helm, dark hair would be visible at the right angle. Last, but not least, his breastplate had a tracery of thin cracks like lightning across its center. The beginnings of a far more severe bit of damage, should anyone monopolize on the opportunity. Battle-scarred GARO, He was. They could sell toys. Through they likely wouldn’t, if he died here. And he had an artist to get home to. Dying really wasn’t an option.

Gritting his teeth, Kouga clenched his fists. No sword? He could manage. The horror had no weapon, and he was doing just fine. While he was staggered, Kouga rushed the beast.

Golden gauntlets snaked up at the beast in an attempt to grab the sides of its head, and haul it down into a rising knee to the face. That was, if they connected at all. Meanwhile, on the sidelines the ring started chatting pink lady up.

“You aren’t helpless, you know?” The ring said. “Pretty woman like you. Damsel in distress is incredibly cliche. Isn’t there something you can do?”

He wasn’t the best ring for chatting women up, it seemed. Did he only have one setting? Assless ass.

((OOC: I think for timing's sake I'm going to write up a summation ending. Let me know if you have any concern! ))