With Great Awkwardness Comes Great Responsibility

[ViolentMedic]

((Marshall West continued from Sticks and Stones...))

Marshall was out of his element. He just… didn’t go to parties, ordinarily, particularly those with underage drinking occurring. That was a crime, even if it was one that Marshall didn’t feel right calling the police over. (Who would receive the blame? The children holding the alcohol? Dani? Her parents? Did they know? If they didn’t, who had acquired the alcohol? Too uncertain, and not something Marshall wanted to jeopardize futures over.)

But Marshall had made the mistake of telling his father about the party – concerned that he’d offend someone by not going, due to the social responsibilities of being a sports captain now while the party was run by a cheerleader – and his father had gotten intense about Marshall ‘wasting his youth by not enjoying it.’ Marshall had told him that he was using his youth very well, thank you very much, and was using it to get a full ride into college. Bringing that up had somehow started an argument and… well, eventually Marshall had just agreed to go, if only to make his father happy.

So he had appointed himself a job. Make sure that, if there was going to be underage drinking, that there would be someone to shepherd the intoxicated. There were a lot of mistakes that could ruin one’s life, and many of them could occur more easily while drunk. So Marshall had chosen a corner not far from a table with too much alcohol, and stayed to watch. He’d already handed cups of water to some who had taken more than a couple of drinks in the last hour – to varying levels of annoyance in response – but otherwise remained in the corner. Holding a cup of juice, and awkwardly bobbing to music in an attempt to look less out of his element.

His choice of costume was making it difficult to look out for the party goers, though, because he’d stuck large buttons over his eyes.

After checking the internet for costumes that wouldn’t take up too much time or money, but also wouldn’t look too lazy, he’d seen a mention of Coraline – he’d been shown that as a child, though he had some difficulty remembering the details – and using that as a basis dressed in one of his slightly more formal outfits – black vest and slacks, white shirt, found a bow tie – used some gel to make his hair look a little more stiff and fake, and stuck black buttons over his eyes with the help of adhesive stickers. Marshall had been told more than once that his face was ‘weird,’ so why not use that to his advantage?

Marshall reached up to lift one of the buttons up enough to see properly, cast a look about for unsteady walks or drunk body language, then lowered it again. No-one was yet drunk to the point of wobbly, at least in this room. Good. Marshall hoped it stayed that way.

[DerArknight]

As the party progressed, the guy in the corner seemed more and more sus.

Which was ironic, since he wasn't the one in the costume of a crewmate.

((Ethan Kemp continued from The Last First Day Back))

For the last half hour, Ethan had stood in a corner, watching a boy with buttons for eyes standing in another corner while pretending to dance.

In truth, it was obvious that he was surveying the other partygoers, especially the ones who were on the drunker side.

Sometimes the boy would approach them to hand them cups he had filled.

Who knew what was in them?

It wasn't that Ethan wanted to assume the worst. His parents had always told him that everyone deserved the benefit of the doubt. It was just that this party seemed to go a little bit too smoothly. As if everything before had just been the intro, and a new scene was starting. As if something could happen any moment. This feeling was the reason he had decided to keep his eyes open and look out for whatever that could be.

And his classmate in the darkest corner of the room (like a goddamn edgelord) looked like a prime example of someone who was up to something.

Ethan, standing in the second darkest corner of the room, was sure that he knew the other boy, but from this far away he could only guess.

Making the decision that more waiting would amount to nothing, Ethan straightened his costume (because a crewmate was one thing, but a crewmate with wrinkles? Come on!) and started to make his way to the other side of the room.

Around the halfway point, while dodging an overly enthusiastic dancer, he finally recognized the suspect as one of the president candidates.

"Hey Marshall. What goes?"

[ViolentMedic]

Suddenly there was an odd-looking astronaut in front of him. Even with the buttons on, that was evident through what little Marshall could see through the gaps.

“Hello!” Marshall said brightly. Though in most circumstances his voice was loud, it suited the current atmosphere as it was clearly audible despite the music.

Marshall lifted one of the buttons again, trying to discern who this was. It must be someone from school, though the voice coming out of this strange astronaut was not particularly familiar to him.

“It goes well so far! No-one is drunk yet! I aim to keep it that way!”

He could almost make out the face through the visor. Almost. Marshall squinted with his one visible eye, then got uncomfortably close while attempting to make out the face.

“I apologize! I don’t know who you are!”

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

No-one's drunk yet?

ahahahahaha.

[Iliya "Liya" Polaris continues from Cast Call]

Or was what Liya drank as watered down as the "beer" that medieval peasants supposedly drank instead of the filthy countryside water? Well, it might have been, it probably tasted the same. If she was in a more sound - or, shall we say, sober - state of mind she'd be wondering why in all the parallel universes she decided to keep drinking it. The answer was... she was at a party.

A costume party. Liya was okay with folks coming over and thinking that the wild-man (or woman I guess) with twigs and leaves in her thin hair shagged up as much as possible sort of costume was some kind of hedge witch or Dungeons-And-Dragons druid. It wasn't though, it was supposed to be a leshy. Liya liked the leshy. Leshies? Sometimes when she caught herself glaring at some bullshit that had the audacity to present itself to her, or on her dash, she'd mutter "Leshy take you" under her breath. It felt cathartic.

She'd been practicing an ominous giggle under flickering lights while she was feeling bubbly. If trick-or-treaters came to her house, she would have loved to show it off to them. But, for the same reasons she could only visit town for a couple of parties per year, there were people willing to venture out with a gaggle of little kids to a chicken farm for candy.

In this dark corner she'd made her way to, there were already people. And she could already tell, just from the tiny snippet of conversation, that she wouldn't get along with this "Marshall" guy.

She practiced her ominous giggle again. It was fun. And took another big gulp of her drink, from a red plastic cup firmly held in one hand.

[DerArknight]

Oh.

It looked like Ethan had been wrong all along. Marshall wasn't looking for prey, he was looking out for everyone's health.

Now that he thought back, Ethan had probably not appeared much better while standing in the other corner.

Now he felt stupid.

But before he could apologize, Marshall asked a question.

"We know each other from the Health Association." Ethan replied. "It's me, E-"

A sudden giggle, close enough to be heard over the music, interrupted him.

Ethan turned around (thanks to his costume restricting his view, he could only see what was right on front of him) and saw a girl with leaves and twigs in her hair.

He wondered what this costume was. A nature lover?

However, the girl was clearly looking at them, so this giggle had apparently been a way to start communication.

"Hello. Do you need something?" Ethan asked.

[ViolentMedic]

Health Association… oh, Ethan! He’d helped with a presentation and did other health-related things! Marshall both recalled and approved of this. Health Association was one of those things that Marshall got mistaken as part of a lot, because he preferred to make sure people were safe and healthy in all aspects whenever possible. Perhaps he was exercising jurisdiction where he didn’t have it.

A walking shrub known as Liya had turned up beside them, giggling. Liya played lacrosse. So while she was under Spud’s leadership rather than Marshall’s own, Marshall had seen her play many times but not interacted with her outside of that. Giggly. Red cup. Tipsy, at the very least.

“Hello! Have you hydrated recently?!” Marshall peered at the costume for a moment before asking curiously, “Are you a shrub?”

Before he forgot, he added to Ethan, “Yes, you’re Ethan! I recall the voice now! If you want to help me keep people drunk, I wouldn’t mind! But you can also just do party things if you like. I have it covered!”

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

"Well, I certainly ain't dry."

Lydia snort-laughed. It sounded like if you tossed a fox's cackles and the sound twigs make when you step on them in a blender. She'd swear she didn't intend that, and mid-laugh corrected herself into the one she'd been practicing. Like an insecure hyena.

Should she tell them what her costume was? Leshy take them?

...nah.

And besides, she wasn't dumb enough to drink nothing but beer, even if it meant interacting with the smugly cheery straight-edge sort. She reached her hand out. "But I know what you meant. I wouldn't mind a glass of water."

[midnight_twelve]

Oh great. There was a conversation happening between him and the booze, and for once it wasn’t one he wanted to be included in.

(Fred Hobbes continued from what you are in the dark)

“‘Scuse me.” Fred made sure to give the girl a wide birth as he squeezed through. Unfortunately, that pushed him a little too close to whoever it was beneath the Among Us costume.

“Sus.” He nodded at the crewmate as he slipped past. It was a pretty cool costume- Fred himself had put off putting one together until the last minute, so he’d stuffed a pillow under one of his dad’s formal outfits and went as Principal McArthur. The likeness wasn’t exactly uncanny, and he’d had to explain himself a few times, but he’d gotten some laughs.

Back to the task at hand- this had to be a speedy operation, in and out. From what Fred had gathered, Marshall- the shouty man- had taken it upon himself to police everyone’s alcohol consumption. Fred was not in the mood for a lecture, so he waited until Marshall’s turn to contribute to whatever the trio were talking about, grabbed a couple cups of the good stuff and got the hell out of Dodge without another glance.

(Fred Hobbes parties on elsewhere)

[DerArknight]

The girl seemed a bit shaky on her legs. Which was why Ethan was grateful when she asked for a glass of water on her own.

"Sure, here-"

But before he could even reach for the water, a random partygoer suddenly stood in his way. "Sus" Was the comment thrown at Ethan's head for the 50th time this night. The boy looking like an old man helped himself to two glasses of not-water and quickly disappeared back into the crowd.

Fair enough, that was the point of the table Ethan and his two companions partly blocked.

[ViolentMedic]

“Excellent! Excuse me!” Marshall bellowed happily. Most had been various shades of annoyed when he tried to persuade them to drink water, so having someone accept it meant responsibility was on an upswing. He practically leapt towards the nearest source of water, not far from the alcohol.

He heard the word ‘sus’ as he did—what was suspicious? Who was being suspicious? But he was already in the midst of retrieving some water. Marshall glanced back in time to see the old man costume vanish out of the room, holding two cups. ...Well, Marshall still didn’t approve, but to get around him so fast… steady feet, at least.

“Here you are! Thank you for being responsible!” Marshall pushed the cup of water—it had ice in it, because who wouldn’t want ice in their water, the crunch was impeccable—into Liya’s hands. After which he considered her outfit for a second. “Is your costume a shrub, though? Though that’s not so thematic… A… witch, maybe?” Marshall hazarded a guess, before he looked at Ethan. “You… are more familiar? A video game astronaut?”

Video games weren’t Marshall’s forte. They took a long time to play, and his time was short already. He supposed it wasn’t different from television shows. Films he could occasionally find the time for… but generally at someone else’s behest.

Small talk also wasn’t his forte, and once this subject was gone he’d be out.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

Liya took the water and immediately raised it to her wide-open mouth. The shock of ice cold ice warned her a split second too late. She hacked, a bit of an ice cube touching the back of her throat, before tumbling back into the glass.

She blinked, slowly, then took another sip. Not a gulp.

"I'd never dress up as a witch. Witches... are real," she explained, before taking another cautious sip. "Shrub... yeah, kinda I guess. You know what a leshy is?"

She giggled, again. Leshy, leshy, leshy. It was fun to say. She should have said it more this evening, and she was already muttering it under her breath ever since the alcohol kicked in.

[DerArknight]

Ethan was actually taken aback by Marshall's question. With how popular Among Us currently was, he had assumed that everyone would instantly recognize his red crewmate.

"Pretty much," he replied. "It's from a video game called Among Us where-"

Suddenly there were hacking noises to his left. Since his vision was limited to what was directly in front of him, Ethan turned around to see the girl barfing a piece of ice back into her glass. Then she answered Marshall's question as if nothing had happened.

And as if that wasn't weird enough, she then asked them about... leshy?

"Hey," Ethan spoke. "You seem kinda out of it. Maybe you should sit down a few moments somwhere to recollect yourself.

"There is another living-room with less music where you should be able to rest a bit. Should I show the way?"

The offer to go with her to a more private place alone might have sounded weird, but Ethan had no such plans. After all, he knew that there already were some other partygoers resting in this room.

[ViolentMedic]

Marshall raised his hands when Liya choked on the ice, ready to perform some form of maneuver to assist her, but she seemed to adjust on her own. The ice had been a mistake! Perhaps the intoxicated were better off with more liquid liquids.

Hmm… Marshall was not experienced in recognising the signs of intoxication. Was this too much? Of course, any intoxication was too much, but how much was ESPECIALLY too much? Was it the giggling?

“Witches aren’t real! But yes, rest is good!” Marshall agreed, clenching one fist in his enthusiasm to express it. “Or calling someone if you need to get home safely!”

Yes, Ethan seemed like he had a good head on his shoulders for this kind of thing. But that was to be expected from someone who belonged to the Health Association!

Marshall had nearly dropped his juice in his enthusiastic agreement, so he quickly drained it. He wrinkled his nose slightly after. He hadn’t enjoyed the taste of it – perhaps the juice had been too old? But it was inappropriate to waste food or drink, and he couldn’t give it to someone else. Not so soon after a pandemic.

[BlizzardeyeWonder]

"Huh?" Out of it? Liya was hardly in it, especially not with these folks. She slow blinked for a moment, vividly feeling her under-eyelids scrunch up as she did. If she was a cat, it'd be a good sign. But she isn't, and it wasn't.

"Nahhh, I ain't sick or anything. I just didn't expect there to be-" she swirled the ice cubes in her glass a bit "-ice cubes in here."

With that she took another sip. Now there was nothing but ice in the glass. Least til it melted. Then she'd have ice-free water.

"And witches are totally real. Same way ghosts are real. There could be one behind you right now and you'd never know, man."

[DerArknight]

Ethan was not convinced by the girl's claims of being fine. Especially not when she started about witches and ghosts being right behind them. He resisted the urge to take a look, since that would have required him to completely turn his body.

Maybe he should have used his old pirate-costume after all. It was almost falling apart and one size to small, but at least he had free vision.

In the end, such thoughts didn't matter. Nothing could change his past decision, so he would have to make it through this party with this limitation.

Ethan decided to test how the girl's perecption was holding up. This was a quick way to judge if someone could be left to their own devices or needed to be cared for.

He raised his left hand to the level of his head while spreading his middle finger, ringfinger and pinkie. His middle finger and ringfinger were purposefully a little bit farther apart than the ringfinger and pinkie.

"How many figners am I holding up right now?" He asked her firmly.