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

[lightamidchaos]

By the time he finds Wei Ying, he has at least learned enough about the holiday called Halloween to no longer be disconcerted about his changed attire.

It is just as well, because his breath is nearly knocked out of him when he sees the other man.

“Mn.”

[acrookedpath]

"Lan Zhan!"

Wei Wuxian, by virtue of spending so much time with Lan Zhan lately in a... shall we say, variety of contexts, is not as oblivious to his reactions as he used to be. Cheerfully innocent, he strolls to meet him, hands in the pockets of his trousers. "Madam Bar has dressed you tonight, too?"

(And dressed him rather well. He is not immune to a close-cut pair of trousers, either.)

[lightamidchaos]

“So it seems.”

He remains a little dubious about it, but resigned.

(He also does his best to ignore the teasing in Wei Ying’s smile. He cannot blame him, to be honest.)

“I do not understand the wings, though.”

He stretches one out, having discovered that they are articulated.

[acrookedpath]

"Neither do I," says Wei Wuxian. "Nor this."

He tips down the glasses to reveal a flash of gold, his pupils slitted like a serpent's. Though it is a more profound change than a suit and a set of moveable wings, he continues to grin, wholly unbothered by it.

"But -- " and here he grabs Lan Zhan's hand to pull him toward the bar, " -- those are not the only things she gave me tonight! Look!"

[lightamidchaos]

Except for the snake-like pupils, his eyes look startlingly like Gideon Nav’s.

He does not dwell on it, though, patiently allowing himself to be drawn across the room, as is so often the case with Wei Ying.

“Cakes,” he observes.

[acrookedpath]

"Cakes!" he confirms gleefully. "Come have one, Lan Zhan, they're very good. Mine had a candle stuck into it -- it's the inn's custom to make a wish and blow it out first. I would have waited for you," he adds, a bit rueful, "but it was a very small candle burning down very quickly."

Indeed, there's a little spent stub of a red candle tucked near the cupcake platter.

[lightamidchaos]

“What did you wish for?”

There is a pile of brightly decorated napkins beside the platter. Some have carved gourds with grinning gap-toothed faces. A few have black cats. He selects one of these.

[acrookedpath]

"If I tell you," he says, reproachful, as he nudges Lan Zhan in the side, "then it won't come true. At least, that's what Madam Bar told me."

Surely with this many cakes, Wei Wuxian can have another one! He grabs a cupcake topped with a single red raspberry and gets to work peeling off its paper wrapper.

"I did not think I'd been here long enough to celebrate a birthday, but if she wishes to shower me in desserts, I won't object."

[lightamidchaos]

Perhaps it is just unfamiliarity with the wings that is the reason Wei Ying ends up being swatted with white feathers for his chiding nudge.

Perhaps.

Certainly Lan Wangji looks innocent of it all as he pulls his wing back and deliberately selects a small cake for himself.

"Good. Wei Ying should have nice things."

[acrookedpath]

Lan Zhan! How dare. Wei Wuxian splutters as he nearly ends up with a mouthful of feathers, but soon enough he's grinning, bright and fond, his nose wrinkling with the force of his smile.

"I already have plenty of nice things," he says, and, shameless as ever, punctuates this with a firm kiss to Lan Zhan's temple.

[lightamidchaos]

"Mn. Still. You should have more."

His tiny smile is warm.

[acrookedpath]

"I am content with what I have now," he says, magnanimous. "Chocolate cakes, and... dessert."

He waggles his eyebrows with zero subtlety and bites into the cupcake. Can anyone fault him for trying to make Lan Zhan blush? Now that he knows well what lurks beneath that placid surface, he must grab the upper hand sometimes.

[lightamidchaos]

The faintest hint of pink flushes the upper curve of his ears.

"Shameless," he murmurs, and considers his own cupcake, then considers Wei Ying.

"Only content? That will not do."

[herald_ingress]

Ingress stops short when she turns around, still some ways away from the familiar duo. Her eyes grow wide with shock and surprise.

"Aziraphale? Crowley?"

She's completely forgotten she's dressed as Wonder Woman for the moment.

[acrookedpath]

Having already seen Ingress in a short, form-fitting dress, Wei Wuxian isn't as taken aback by her costume as he might have been some weeks ago. It's still startling, to be certain -- her entire legs are bare! -- but he recovers quickly enough.

Especially since...

"Ingress!" Unless Crowley's voice and demeanor have changed drastically in the past decade or so, his true identity quickly becomes apparent as he waves a hand over his head. "You know who we're supposed to be?"

[lightamidchaos]

His eyes widen, startled, and his ears flush pink.

Lan Wangji was not expecting to see Ingress wearing nothing more than the very least of clothing, even less than the dress she had been wearing in the pictures, and in the middle of a common room full of people.

He makes a slightly strangled sound and then shakes his head, looking resigned.

[herald_ingress]

As she takes a few steps forward, her expression clouds over with confusion. But then she realizes who she's actually talking to, and her usual expression of delight spreads across her face.

"Hi! Yes, I do. You're dressed as old friends who used to be fixtures here, when I was growing up. I honestly thought you were them for a moment." She gestures to Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in turn and says, "You're Aziraphale, a heavenly angel, and you're Crowley, a demon but not a terribly demonic one."

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian lets out a small, knowing ohhh and glances sidelong at Lan Zhan, grinning anew. "A heavenly angel, hm?" he asks, leaning to bump shoulders (and, inadvertently, wings) with Lan Zhan. "I see. Strange that she would dress us like another pair of patrons, though."

What if this Aziraphale and Crowley walk through the front door and see them?

[lightamidchaos]

His ears go much brighter at Wei Ying's comment.

"Mn."

After a moment, he brushes one hand over the cuff of his sweater, a little self-consciously, and says,

"What is your attire, Ingress?"

[herald_ingress]

"I'm a superhero called Wonder Woman," she says, and she quickly realizes that her lack of clothing may be a bit shocking for them. And this costume isn't even that scanty!

"She's in something called a comic book in different worlds; she has super strength and is indestructible and fights dastardly villains. I met her here, though, and she was remarkable. As for Aziraphale and Crowley, I don't think they'll be here. They went away a long, long time ago."

[acrookedpath]

"I have met a superhero or two," says Wei Wuxian thoughtfully. "None dressed quite so remarkably, but they spoke of fighting creatures and villains in their world much like a cultivator would."

He shrugs. The wings, by some hidden mechanism, stretch fluidly and resettle against his shoulders.

"And if Aziraphale and Crowley no longer visit the inn, then we will simply have to live up to their reputations as best we can."

[lightamidchaos]

"It suits you, then," he says to Ingress, before giving Wei Ying a sideways look.

"Depending on their reputations."

[herald_ingress]

"They were well-loved and respected," she says, her voice fond. "I think they even watched over me sometimes when I was small. Just don't order Atlantean."

And then her face gets serious and she admonishes Wei Wuxian, "Actually, don't ever order Atlantean, or at least not more than a tiny amount. It's from my world, and it will really take you down."

[acrookedpath]

Wei Wuxian's golden eyes go wide and reverent.

"Ingress," he says, "you cannot tell me there is a kind of drink I've never tried and then say I cannot order it! How cruel! We are friends, Ingress, dear friends -- "

[lightamidchaos]

"Wei Ying."

It is amazing how much his name sounds like a warning - if a gentle one.

(He suspects he will have to resign himself to what is obviously going to happen.)

"A tiny amount. Only that. If at all."