This is Halloween!

[we_bring_hell]

The Bar loves her holidays, but she is also capable of respecting religious strictures. That's why she put a lot of thought into finding a Halloween costume for Harrow that works with her face paint and general insistence on the monochromatic.

Harrow, for her part, is baffled by the white-pinstriped black suit and the oversized bow, but the gloves are very cool, and the buckled shoes suit as well. She has no idea what's going on but she can live with this.

The Bar seems even more unusually populated than usual, and there are a lot of gourds around. Hm.

Comments

[we_bring_hell]

Well, the lasso sounds frankly terrible. But otherwise: "She sounds very admirable."

"See, I thought it looked like a comic book outfit. All of Griddle's comics are about Cohort soldiers, though. Usually all-woman special forces units lost behind enemy lines on planets full of fabric-eating fungus."

[herald_ingress]

"Yes, yes, that sounds like a comic book to me. How things don't change," she laughs.

"A lack of clothing is a part of the Halloween costuming tradition. Sexy nurses, sexy vampires, sexy super heroes - it's a time to dress as what you wish you could be, how you'd like, for one night, to be different from all the others."

[we_bring_hell]

"I am thankful," she says, as much to the Bar as to Ingress, "to be a mere skeleton."

It does not seem to cross her mind for a moment that a well-fitted pinstripe suit might be sexy on the right kind of sharp-edged androgyny.

[herald_ingress]

"It's fitting."

Ingress does not say anything about that look being pretty damn hot in its own way. NOPE!

"I think I was dressed by Bar as a pirate once for Halloween," she says, trying to remember. "I think. But I was often dressed as a pirate, just for the hell of it, so maybe not. But I know Bar made me a princess, a fairy, oh, one year I was a dragon - all appropriate child costumes."

[we_bring_hell]

"What is a dragon?" Harrow asks. "People all seem to have strong feelings about them but I'm not really clear on the basics."

[herald_ingress]

"Bar, do you have a copy of Scamander's Guide to Dragons of the World I could borrow?"

A book appears with a Hungarian Horn Tail snarling and swirling within the confines of the cover. It breathes fire that also stays upon the page.

"They're marvelous creatures. Tom took us to a refuge once and I got to see them up close."

She does not have a wand with a dragon heartstring, so she doesn't know the pain of recent cultural clashes.

[we_bring_hell]

"Oh!" she says, startled. She looks at Ingress. "Magical book?"

She flips through it, comparing the images to what she's heard. It's definitely a better fit for some of the descriptions she's heard than others.

[herald_ingress]

"Mmmhmm," she nods. "From Tom's birth world. We visited often."

She points to one of the flying dragons on the page Harrow's looking at. "My costume didn't give me wings that flew or fiery breath."

MORE'S THE PITY.

"It was just cloth in a dragon shape. It was cute."

[we_bring_hell]

"I am afraid most beasts of Earth are extinct, in my time," she says, looking wonderingly at the great creatures. "God concerned himself with the people, and only a few have been salvaged by our scientists, even in a myriad."

"How marvelous."

[herald_ingress]

"Oh, that's sad," she says, blinking. "I didn't know that. I love animals."

[we_bring_hell]

Yes, you're sworn to a horse, I gathered as much, is not what Harrow says.

"It varies from House to House," she says. "The Third are our wealthiest House--I have heard they have even revived ancient companion animals, as a luxury."

"Most House can afford to sustain crickets and bees, at least."

[herald_ingress]

I loved animals well before the soul bonding, thank you very much is not what Ingress must reply.

She pulls a confused face. "Bees I understand, but why crickets? Do they do any-"

She recalls a certain food stall that's popped up from time to time at Floating Markets.

"Never mind, both would be useful."

[we_bring_hell]

"You can make flour," Harrow says. "And they multiply much more easily than wheat. Only they tend to escape, you know. And then they go feral and chirp all the time, or so I've read."

The Ninth is too poor for bugs.

[herald_ingress]

"I did not know you could make flour out of crickets," she says, impressed.

She has nothing against eating bugs! She'd prefer not to, is all.

[we_bring_hell]

"All we have on the Ninth are snow leeks," she says. "They're leeks that can grow in extreme cold. We use them to help cycle our air and we eat them."

Being a necromancer has a lot of facets and some of them are botany and managing food supply.

[herald_ingress]

"Is your gruel made of... leeks?"

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes," she says. "It's good!"

She means it doesn't taste like anything.

"We also import nutrient paste and other essentials. You cannot live on leeks alone. We get a negotiated ration in return for housing prisoner from other Houses in the prison. It's run by the Cohort, but we are paid a stipend for orbital rights."

[herald_ingress]

"Good. That's- great."

All of it. Wow.

"Bar, I'd like a double order of chips, please. Oh, no, wait, an order of chips and an order of onion rings."

She grins at Harrow. "I think you might like onion rings. They're fried like chips."

A platter with both appear in front of them, along with a pair of chopsticks, because Ingress really does prefer eating greasy things with them now that she's tried it.

"Oh, and a mudslide, please, Bar."

Because drinking is another Halloween tradition!

[we_bring_hell]

The fried part is not what she likes about chips. Still, she examines an onion ring critically before she bites it, and chews it up doubtfully.

"Thank you. I am trying to overcome my sensitivity to unfamiliar sensations."

Whoops there's that blush again.

[herald_ingress]

"I'd best watch out," she teases. "You might work up to a sip of milkshake twice in one year."

[we_bring_hell]

"I promised Gideon we would have desserts with every meal for accompanying me and Moiraine Sedai to the Ninth House," she says, dismayed by the memory.

[herald_ingress]

"You poor thing. What a terrible thing to endure."

[we_bring_hell]

"Yes, well. I am a soft touch, apparently."

"As long as we were enemies it was simple. Now I have to make sure she is treated fairly." Because God knows Griddle won't do it herself.

[herald_ingress]

"Harrow?" she says, her face lighting up.

"Do you have news to tell? About you and Gideon?"

If she's a little wistful, she hides it well. Truly, if there is news, she's delighted for both of them.

[we_bring_hell]

She hesitates, unsure what to say; what even are the words

"She is my cavalier; my sworn sword. When we began this journey, it was an act, to hide the threadbare House of the Ninth."

"But we have told each other the truth, and it is... real, now. One flesh, one end."

She flames beneath the paint. "She is... dear to me. And if she will give of herself without stinting, I must ensure she is given her due, if she won't."